Introduction to Laser-Plasma Interactions

Pierre Michel received his Ph.D. in physics from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris in 2003, where he worked on experiment and modeling of long-pulse laser-plasma interactions. From 2004 to 2006 he was a postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, working in the BELLA Center on laser wakefield acceleration and laser-plasma-based ultra-short x-ray sources. He has been at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) since 2006, where he is a group leader for laser-plasma interaction (LPI) physics in the National Ignition Facility Directorate and has been the principal investigator on several projects on plasma- and gas-optics. He is a visiting scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught online lectures on LPI through the LLNL High Energy Density Center. He has published over a hundred papers on short- and long-pulse LPI, is a recipient of the Edouard Fabre Prize (European Physical Society), the John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics (American Physical Society) and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

• Chapter 1-Fundamentals of optics and plasma physics.- Chapter 2-Single particle dynamics in light waves and plasma waves.- Chapter 3- Linear propagation of light waves in plasmas.- Chapter 4-Absorption of light waves (and EPWs) in plasmas.- Chapter 5-Nonlinear self-action effects in light propagation in plasmas.- Chapter 6-Introduction to three-wave instabilities. Chapter 7-Wave coupling instabilities via ion acoustic waves.- Chapter 8-Wave coupling instabilities via electron plasma waves.- Chapter 9-Optical smoothing of high-power lasers and implications for laser-plasma instabilities.- Chapter 10-Saturation of laser-plasma instabilities and other nonlinear effects.