BORING OF A CHANNEL IN A THERMONUCLEAR TA RGET PLASMA BY ULTRAHIGH-INTENSITY LASER-RADIATION

A two-dimensional hydrodynamic model is proposed for the interaction o f laser radiation of similar to 10(18)-10(21) W/cm(2) intensity with a n overdense plasma. The model can be used to carry out numerical calcu lations 4-5 orders faster than by the particle-in-cell method. It is s hown that a channel of L similar to 100 mu m depth, sufficient to igni te a thermonuclear reaction, can be bored in a plasma of similar to 10 (22) cm(-3) density. Such channel boring is accompanied by generation of shock density pulses the evolution of which is essentially two-dime nsional For a given laser pulse energy, there is a specific intensity which maximises the channel depth.