High pressure generation by hot electrons driven ablation

A previous model [Piriz et al. Phys. Plasmas 19, 122705 (2012)] for the ablation driven by the hot electrons generated in collisionless laser-plasma interactions in the framework of shock ignition is revisited. The impact of recent results indicating that for a laser wavelength λ = 0.35 μm the hot electron temperature θH would be independent of the laser intensity I, on the resulting ablation pressure is considered. In comparison with the case when the scaling law θH∼(Iλ2)1/3 is assumed, the generation of the high pressures needed for driving the ignitor shock may be more demanding. Intensities above 1017 W/cm2 would be required for θH=25−30 keV