Experimental investigation of short scalelength density fluctuations in laser-produced plasmas

The technique of near forward laser scattering is used to infer characteristics of intrinsic and controlled density fluctuations in laser-produced plasmas. Intrinsic fluctuations are studied in long-scale length plasmas where we find that the fluctuations exhibit scale sizes related to the intensity variation scales in the plasma-forming and interaction beams. Stimulated Brillouin forward scattering and filamentation appear to be the primary mechanism through which these fluctuations originate. The beam spray resulting from these fluctuations is important to understand since it can affect symmetry in an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiment. Controlled fluctuations are studied in foam and exploding foil targets. Forward scattered light from foam targets shows evidence that the initial target inhomogeneities remain after the target is laser heated. Forward scattered light from an exploding foil plasma shows that a regular intensity pattern can be used to produce a spatially correlated density fluctuation pattern. These results provide data which are being used to benchmark numerical models of beam spray.