Fast ignitor related studies at ILE, Osaka University

Summary form only given, as follows. An ultra-intense laser light of intensities in excess of 10/sup 19/ W/cm/sup 2/ has opened a new regime in laser plasma interactions studies. Fast ignition is one of the most exciting application of such studies, since the proposal requires an ultra-intense laser light to penetrate well beyond the critical density close enough to a highly compressed fuel core to convert the light energy to hot electrons or proton/ions to ignite the core. At ILE we have performed detailed studies of these laser plasma interactions in both planar and spherical geometries at laser intensities between 10/sup 18/ and 10/sup 19/ W/cm/sup 2/. We show that laser light can penetrate into the plasma density beyond the cut-off density with MeV class hot electrons. Using these hot electrons we can also develop a new method to study a high density plasma such as compressed core. All of these details are shown using both experimental and theoretical (2D and 3D PIC code simulation results).