Electromagnetic instability in plasmas heated by a laser field

Electromagnetic instability is investigated in homogeneous plasmas heated by a laser wave in the range α=v_{0}^{2}/v_{t}^{2}≤2, where v_{0} is the electron quiver velocity and v_{t} is the thermal velocity. The anisotropic electron distribution function that drives unstable quasistatic electromagnetic modes is calculated numerically with the Vlasov-Landau equation in the high ion charge number approximation. A dispersion relation of electromagnetic waves which accounts for further nonlinear terms on v_{0}^{2} from previous results is derived. In typical simulation with ion charge number Z=13, a temperature T=5keV, a density n=9.8×10^{20}cm^{-3}, and a laser wavelength λ_{laser}=1.06μm, growth rates larger than 10^{12}s^{-1} in the quasicollisionless wave-number range were found for α≥1. In the same physical conditions and in the mildly collisional range a growth rate about 10^{11}s^{-1} was also obtained. The extent of the growth wave-number region increases significantly with increasing α.