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Updated: Aug 5, 2026
11:20
Investigation of Early Plasma Evolution Induced by Ultrashort Laser Pulses
Published on: July 2, 2012
15.0K
Thermal conductivity of a laser plasma
Nathaniel R Shaffer1, Andrei V Maximov1,2, Valeri N Goncharov1,2
1Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
Physical Review. E
|November 18, 2023
Summary
Laser absorption in plasma significantly reduces electron thermal conductivity by altering electron distribution. This effect, crucial for plasma modeling, is quantified by a new parameter dependent on laser intensity and wavelength.
Area of Science:
- Plasma Physics
- Laser-Plasma Interactions
- Computational Physics
Background:
- Electron thermal conductivity is a critical parameter in modeling laser-produced plasmas.
- Laser absorption can significantly alter plasma properties, deviating from ideal equilibrium states.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and present a model for electron thermal conductivity in laser-produced plasmas.
- To investigate the impact of laser absorption on electron distribution and conductivity.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Vlasov-Fokker-Planck simulations to model plasma behavior.
- Developed analytic fits based on simulation results.
Main Results:
- Laser absorption drives electrons from Maxwell-Boltzmann equilibrium, depleting both bulk and tail populations.
- Electron distributions were found to approximate super-Gaussian forms with exponents dependent on laser parameters (intensity, wavelength) via α=Zv_{E}^{2}/v_{T}^{2}.
- A reduction of thermal conductivity to half its zero-intensity value was observed for α=0.5 due to tail electron depletion.
Conclusions:
- The presented model accurately captures the reduction in electron thermal conductivity due to laser absorption.
- Analytic fits provide a practical tool for incorporation into radiation-hydrodynamics codes.
- The findings offer corrections to the local limit of nonlocal conduction models in plasma simulations.
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