Physics of laser plasma

Volume 3 of the Handbook of Plasma Physics continues the trend set by the first two in discussing many of the challenging problems in basic plasma physics. This volume provides a comprehensive review of laser fusion plasma physics and contains the most up-to-date information on high density plasma physics and radiation transport, useful for astrophysicists and high density physicists. The introductory chapter is a comprehensive description of the problems and achievements of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion as the most prominent motivation for the study of the physics of laser plasmas. The next chapter is devoted to a theoretical treatment of the atomic processes that determine the properties of laser plasmas. It is followed by two articles on the soft X-rays emitted by the plasmas, their use as diagnostic tool and the production of black-body radiation in this spectral range. Chapters 5 and 6 put main emphasis on the hydrodynamics of compression and heating of spherically symmetric targets, the problems of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities and the requirements imposed on the homogeneity of the laser radiation. The numerous phenomena occurring in the low-density corono region through the interaction of the intense electromagnetic radiation with a plasma are treated in chapters 7 to 10. The theoretical treatment of plasma turbulence excited in the corona and the description of the main linear and nonlinear interaction phenomena with emphasis on the experiments is followed by a special article on resonance absorption and ponderomotove action.