FILAMENTATION OF POWERFUL LASER-RADIATION IN A HOT PLASMA

A theory of the filamentation of laser radiation due to electron colli sions is developed for a hot plasma under the conditions when the elec tron mean free path exceeds the characteristic spatial scale of the fi laments formed. The nonlinear effect produced by the laser radiation h eating the plasma is found to be governed by both nonlinear wave inter action, which can be described in terms of the parameteric instability , and the nonlinear effect of electron redistribution over velocities, which is caused by heating radiation and results in the deviation of the electron distribution from a Maxwellian.