Propagation dynamics of relativistic electromagnetic solitary wave as well as modulational instability in plasmas

By one-dimensional particle-in-cell(PIC) simulations, the propagation and stability of relativistic electromagnetic(EM) solitary waves as well as modulational instability of plane EM waves are studied in uniform cold electron-ion plasmas.The investigation not only confirms the solitary wave motion characteristics and modulational instability theory, but more importantly, gives the following findings. For a simulation with the plasma density 10²³ m^-3 and the dimensionless vector potential amplitude 0.18, it is found that the EM solitary wave can stably propagate when the carrier wave frequency is smaller than 3.83 times of the plasma frequency. While for the carrier wave frequency larger than that, it can excite a very weak Langmuir oscillation, which is an order of magnitude smaller than the transverse electron momentum and may in turn modulate the EM solitary wave and cause the modulational instability, so that the solitary wave begins to deform after a long enough distance propagation. The stable propagation distance before an obvious observation of instability increases(decreases) with the increase of the carrier wave frequency(vector potential amplitude). The study on the plane EM wave shows that a modulational instability may occur and its wavenumber is approximately equal to the modulational wavenumber by Langmuir oscillation and is independent of the carrier wave frequency and the vector potential amplitude.This reveals the role of the Langmuir oscillation excitation in the inducement of modulational instability and also proves the modulational instability of EM solitary wave.     

弱磁化等离子体中受激拉曼散射和受激布里渊散射抑制研究

本文针对典型激光聚变等离子体参数条件,利用动理学粒子模拟程序研究横向磁场和激光带宽在抑制受激拉曼散射(SRS)和受激布里渊散射(SBS)中的作用。模拟发现横向磁场对非均匀等离子体中SRS的非线性自共振增强有显著抑制作用,分析认为横向磁场作用于SRS激发的电子等离子体波(EPW)势阱中的俘获电子,使它们在横向上加速,对EPW造成非线性阻尼,同时减小EPW的非线性频移量,从而缩窄非均匀等离子体中SRS的自共振空间,极大降低SRS反射率。在此基础上利用横向磁场抑制SRS的特性,以及SBS增长对激光带宽的敏感性,提出了利用横向磁场和宽带激光将SRS和SBS同时抑制在低反射率水平的方案。在采用数十特斯拉横向磁场和实验中易于达到的千分之一量级的激光带宽时以及慢性约束聚变(ICF)相关参数下,SBS和SRS的反射率都得到了有效抑制。