The evolution of a layer of electron vortices produced by the interaction of an intense laser pulse and plasma

The instability of the large-scale motion of a thin layer of electron vortices produced by the interaction of intense laser pulse and a uniform plasma is studied here. The standard point vortex models and vortex sheet models of the flow field involve unphysical singularities in flow field, leading to ill-posed problems. To make the problem well posed a description in terms of vortex blobs is considered. If the vortex sheet has a smooth localized core then the linear growth rates rapidly decrease to zero at high wave numbers, thus providing a natural ultraviolet cutoff. Such a model can then be further used to study the development of small-scale inhomogeneity in the magnetic field produced by the ultraintense laser beam. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.