Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 March 2009
By employing analytic solutions for the electromagnetic field at resonance absorption, first derived by Denisov, the total nonlinear force, in the plane of incidence has been evaluated. This 2-D force results in a conical type emission towards the vacuum and into the plasma which depends critically on the collision frequency and the density scale length. It is found that, for neodynium glass laser intensities of 1014 W/cm2, keV ions can be produced by nonlinear force acceleration. The analysis is limited by the following requirements: the dielectric constant varies linearly with distance, the angle of incidence is not too small and most importantly self consistent and transient wave processes occur at a later time and are neglected.