Microwave experimental studies of laser fusion. Final report, 1 August 1982-31 July 1983

The aim of the UCLA microwave modeling program is to employ high power (0.1 to 10 MW) microwave sources (lambda0 = 10 cm) and well-diagnosed low density (n/sub e/ approx. = 1010-1012cm-3) plasma devices to perform experimental simulations of important aspects of the laser-pellet interaction. The purpose of these simulations is three-fold. First, microwave modeling permits one to isolate important physics issues. An example is our recent confirmation of the role of ion tail heating in SBS saturation. The second is to inexpensively test new ideas (i.e. finite bandwidth control). The third purpose is to develop a vehicle in which testing and normalization of computer codes can be done. This obviously permits one to gain more confidence in scaling code results to other wavelengths, intensities, etc