Propagation of high energy laser beams through metallic aerosols.

We investigate the propagation of high energy laser beams through vaporizing metallic aerosols in the regime for which plasma generation becomes important. Plasma forms in the vapor layer surrounding the irradiated aerosols particles. Both plasma initiation and dynamics are studied. To describe plasma absorption, we include the effects of inverse bremsstrahlung and photoionization. An effective plasma absorption coefficient allows us to set up a coupled system of equations describing the system consisting of the beam and aerosol vapor.