The spatial location of laser-driven, forward-propagating waves in a National-Ignition-Facility-relevant plasma

Ion acoustic and electron plasma waves, associated with backward-propagatin g stimulated Brillouin scattering and stimulated Raman scattering, have bee n diagnosed in a long-scale-length, nearly homogenous plasma with transvers e flow. Thomson scattered light from a probe beam is employed to show that these waves are well localized in space and for a time much shorter than th e laser pulse duration. These plasma conditions are relevant to hohlraum de sign for the National Ignition Facility inertial confinement fusion laser s ystem. [R. Sawicki et al., Fusion Technol. 34, 1097 (1998)]. (C) 2000 Ameri can Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(00)03001-9].