Collisional effects on absorption and energy transport in a dense solid-carbon thin film irradiated by subpicosecond lasers

The collisional effects on the kinetics of interactions between a high-power subpicosecond laser and a solid-carbon thin film in a fast-ignition scenario are investigated by one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Collisions are found to play an essential role in energy absorption and transport, compared to collisionless cases. In the collisional cases, the absorption at the heating edge, heat transport inside the thin film, and hot electron production are reduced in the early transient process. (author)