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Application of solitons to the study of laser propagation into a thermonuclear plasma in inertial confinement fusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2002

J.F. MIRAMAR BLAZQUEZ
Affiliation:
Area de Ingenierìa Nuclear, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain

Abstract

In this work, we study the laser propagation in a thermonuclear plasma corresponding to implosion of deuterium-tritium pellets in inertial confinement fusion, by injecting energy provided by high-power laser devices into a quiescent plasma and generating solitons. Having in mind that the electric field inside of plasma can be studied by means of a particular non-linear Schrödinger equation, we solve this equation as an inverse problem, using the Inverse Scattering Transform method, that is a 2 × 2 eigenvalue problem, known as the AKNS scheme, developed by Ablovitz, Kamp, Newell, and Shabat. We obtain the pseudopotentials q and r if we suppose that the eigenvalue is invariant in time, and is representative of a wave eigenvector, obtaining a solution that has a structure of the soliton type. In the process, one change of variable for space and another for time are applied, and the relation between the pseudopotentials is given by r = −q*. Discretization of the non-linear Schrödinger equation, solved by inverse scattering transform are given by Ablovitz et al. (1999). These solitons are generated near the critical layer where w0wp, w0 being the laser frequency and wp the plasma frequency, exhibit a change in electronic density profile and are caused by the ponderomotive force of laser radiation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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