Controlling two plasmon decay instability in intense femtosecond laser driven plasmas

We investigate the onset of the two-plasmon-decay (TPD) instability in intense femtosecond laser-solid interaction. In particular, this instability, originating at the quarter critical electron density surface in the inhomogeneous plasma, is explored for a wide range of laser parameters-energy, pulse duration, and intensity contrast. By varying these laser parameters, we demonstrate ways to excite and control the growth of the TPD process. The pulse duration scan carried out under a constant laser fluence reveals the pulse width dependent nature of TPD growth. The spectral splitting of the TPD induced three-halves harmonic emission is used to infer the electron temperature near the quarter critical density surface. Moreover, by varying the laser contrast over four orders of magnitude, we find that the intensity threshold of three-halves harmonic emission increases by nearly two orders of magnitude. This contrast dependent intensity threshold for the emission of three-halves harmonic can be a useful diagnostic of the laser contrast