Electron Acceleration At Oblique Angles Via Stimulated Raman Scattering At Laser Irradiance >10(16) W Cm(-2) Mu M(2)

The generation of hot, directional electrons via laser-driven stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is a topic of great importance in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) schemes. Little recent research has been dedicated to this process at high laser intensity, in which back, side, and forward scatter simultaneously occur in high energy density plasmas, of relevance to, for example, shock ignition ICF. We present an experimental and particle-in-cell (PIC) investigation of hot electron production from SRS in the forward and near-forward directions from a single speckle laser of wavelength lambda(0) = 1.053 mu m, peak laser intensities in the range I-0 = 0.2-1.0 x 10(17) Wcm(-2) and target electron densities between n(e) = 0.3-1.6% n(c), where n(c) is the plasma critical density. As the intensity and density are increased, the hot electron spectrum changes from a sharp cutoff to an extended spectrum with a slope temperature T = 34 +/- keV and maximum measured energy of 350 keV experimentally. Multidimensional PIC simulations indicate that the high energy electrons are primarily generated from SRS-driven electron plasma wave phase fronts with k vectors angled similar to 50 degrees with respect to the laser axis. These results are consistent with analytical arguments that the spatial gain is maximized at an angle which balances the tendency for the growth rate to be larger for larger scattered light wave angles until the kinetic damping of the plasma wave becomes important. The efficiency of generated high energy electrons drops significantly with a reduction in either laser intensity or target electron density, which is a result of the rapid drop in growth rate of Raman scattering at angles in the forward direction.