Theoretical Investigation of Relativistic Electron Transport in Intense Laser-Matter Interaction

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The generation of high energy-density in matter with intense laserbeams has made tremendous progress in the last decade,stimulated by the development of chirped-pulse-amplification.This technique allows to create femtosecond optical laser pulses ofextreme intensities I\lambda^2 > 10^17 - 10^21 W/cm2 micrometerby table-top lasers. When such laser pulses interact with matter, thelight electric field ionizes the material and accelerates electrons tonear-light velocity, generating enourmous currents.The investigation of relativistic electron transport through denseplasma is highly relevant for basic research as well as forapplications like astrophysics, inertial confinement fusion,radiography and ion sources for particle accelerators.Due to the inherent complexity of the physical processes involved,numerical analysis -- i.e. computer simulations -- play a central rolein understanding the physics and in the support of experiments.The aims within the context of this proposal are to (i) studyrelativistic electron transport in dense plasmatheoretically by means of state-of-the-art computer simulations,ie. one- and multidimensional particle-in-cell models that aremodified to include field and collisional ionization, as well asbinary collisions, (ii) study and help to develop further numericaltools for the description of fast electron transport indense plasma, and (iii) to actually support ongoing experiments atlarge-scale laser facilities.