Propagation of relativistic electrons in low density foam targets.

The propagation of laser-driven, relativistic electron beams in plasmas is a phenomenon of relevance to applications such as the Fast Ignition of fusion targets. In this paper, we report on experiments where the transport of hot electron currents through foam targets has been studied using the proton imaging technique. Strong filamentation has been observed, possibly due to electromagnetic instabilities of the Weibel type. The experiments were performed at the RAL Petawatt laser facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]