Modelling short pulse, high intensity laser plasma interactions

Modelling the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulses with solid targets is made difficult through the large range of length and time scales involved in the transport of relativistic electrons. An implicit hybrid PIC–fluid model using the commercial code LSP (LSP is marketed by MRC (Albuquerque), New Mexico, USA) reveals a variety of complex phenomena which seem to be borne out in experiments and some existing theories.