Nonlinear collisional absorption and induced anisotropy in plasmas heated by an intense laser field

The inverse bremsstrahlung absorption of a laser wave by electrons in homogeneous plasmas is investigated in the range alpha = nu(2)(0)/nu(2)(t) <= 2, where nu(0) is the electron quiver velocity and v(t) is the thermal velocity. For alpha << 1, previous results are recovered. In the range alpha >= 1, the interplay of collisional absorption and induced plasma anisotropy led to significant new results regarding the electron distribution function and the laser wave damping rate. By increasing alpha, the low-energy electron population increases, while the collisional absorption rate is still reduced. The temperature anisotropy induced by electron heating is also estimated. Published by AIP Publishing.