Relativistic similarity parameter
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (December 2010) |
In relativistic laser-plasma physics the relativistic similarity parameter S is a
- ,
where is the electron plasma density, is the critical plasma density and is the normalized vector potential. Here is the
The concept of similarity and the similarity parameter were first introduced in plasma physics by Sergey Gordienko.[1] It allows distinguishing between relativistically overdense and underdense plasmas .
The similarity parameter is connected to basic symmetry properties of the collisionless Vlasov equation and is thus the relativistic plasma analog of the Reynolds number in fluid mechanics. Gordienko showed that in the relativistic limit () the laser-plasma dynamics depends on three dimensionless parameters: , and , where is the duration of the laser pulse and is the typical radius of the
The similarity theory allows deriving non-trivial power-law scalings for the energy of fast electrons in underdense and overdense plasmas.[2]
References
- .
- PMID 16907195.