Evolution of the electron distribution function in intense laser-plasma interactions

Abstract

We report a numerical investigation of the time evolution of the electron distribution function (EDF) in a laser-embedded, fully ionized plasma. A distinctive feature of the calculations is removal of the frequently adopted assumption of small anisotropy of the EDF in velocity space. This requires solving a two-dimensional partial differential equation for the EDF. Within the adopted range of parameters, the EDF undergoes significant changes. An initially isotropic EDF transforms rapidly into an anisotropic one characterized by a longitudinal velocity scale larger than the perpendicular one. This longitudinal stretching persists for several cycles of the radiation field, implying the establishment of a two-temperature EDF. We also investigate the time behavior of moments of the EDF for different initial conditions.