Isochoric heating of solid-density plasmas beyond keV temperature by fast thermal diffusion with relativistic picosecond laser light.

The interaction of relativistic short-pulse lasers with matter produces fast electrons with over megaampere currents, which supposedly heats a solid target isochorically and forms a hot dense plasma. In a picosecond timescale, however, thermal diffusion from hot preformed plasma turns out to be the dominant process of isochoric heating. We describe a heating process, fast thermal diffusion, launched from the preformed plasma heated resistively by the fast electron current. We demonstrate the fast thermal diffusion in the keV range in a solid density plasma by a series of one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. A theoretical model of the fast thermal diffusion is developed and we derive the diffusion speed as a function of the laser amplitude and target density. Under continuous laser irradiation, the diffusion front propagates at a constant speed in uniform plasma. Our model can provide a guideline for fast isochoric heating using future kilojoule petawatt lasers.