Anomalously hot electrons due to rescatter of stimulated Raman scattering in the kinetic regime.

ABSTRACT

Using particle-in-cell simulations, we examine hot electron generation from electron plasma waves excited by stimulated Raman scattering and rescattering in the kinetic regime where the wave number times the Debye length (kλ(D)) is >/~0.3 for backscatter. We find that for laser and plasma conditions of possible relevance to experiments at the National Ignition Facility, anomalously energetic electrons can be produced through the interaction of a discrete spectrum of plasma waves generated from stimulated Raman scattering (back and forward scatter), rescatter, and the Langmuir decay of the rescatter-generated plasma waves. Electrons are bootstrapped in energy as they propagate into plasma waves with progressively higher phase velocities.