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Updated: Jan 25, 2026

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry
Published on: August 1, 2017
Picosecond Thermodynamics in Underdense Plasmas Measured with Thomson Scattering
A S Davies1,2, D Haberberger1, J Katz1
1Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, 250 E River Road, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
Abstract:
The rapid evolutions of the electron density and temperature in a laser-produced plasma were measured using collective Thomson scattering. Unprecedented picosecond time resolution, enabled by a pulse-front-tilt compensated spectrometer, revealed a transition in the plasma-wave dynamics from an initially cold, collisional state to a quasistationary, collisionless state. The Thomson-scattering spectra were compared with theoretical calculations of the fluctuation spectrum using either a conventional Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) collision operator or the rigorous Landau collision terms: the BGK model overestimates the electron temperature by 50% in the most-collisional conditions.
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