Two-plasmon decay instability and 3/2 harmonic generation in inhomogeneous magnetized plasma

TL;DR

This study investigates how magnetic fields and electron temperature affect two-plasmon decay instability and 3/2 harmonic generation in inhomogeneous magnetized plasma, relevant for inertial confinement fusion applications.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of dc magnetic fields and electron temperature on plasma instabilities and harmonic generation, including analytical modeling of sideband intensity.

Findings

Magnetic field increases instability growth rate.

Higher electron temperature reduces instability growth.

Magnetic field enhances 3/2 harmonic sideband intensity.

Abstract

Two-plasmon decay instability emerges as the parametric decay of laser beams into two plasma waves which is expected for hohlraum in inertial confinement fusion. The behavior of this instability in magnetized plasma is investigated in the present study where the thermal effects are considered. The study demonstrates that the applying of a dc magnetic field significantly increases the rate at which the instability develops, while the increase of electron temperature has the opposite effect. The generation of 3/2 harmonic, which results from the beating of the incident laser and plasma wave, is also studied in the present study. The intensity of this harmonic, which appears in the spectrum as a sideband derived analytically, indicates that an increase in the dc magnetic field increases the intensity of this sideband.