Inverse-bremsstrahlung absorption of an intense laser field in cluster plasma

Inverse-bremsstrahlung absorption of an intense laser field in cluster plasma is considered in the Born approximation with allowance made for electron interaction with the entire subsystem of clustered ions. The electromagnetic power absorbed in plasma is calculated for linearly and circularly polarized laser radiations. It is shown that plasma “clustering” can give rise to much more effective absorption of electromagnetic energy as a result of collisions. The collective effects (the action of the overall field of clustered ions on an electron) dominate over the elementary processes (electron scattering by individual ions in the cluster) in the course of inverse bremsstrahlung.