Coherent effects during electron-ion
collisions in super strong laser fields

A. A. Balakin, G. M. Fraiman
Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Electron-ion collisions in plasmas in a super strong laser field are reviewed. General reasons in favor of a significant role of large-angle collisions in such regimes are formulated. It is shown that the problem of collision is determined by two parameters. The effects caused by the focusing properties of Coulomb potential are demonstrated numerically and analytically. One of the important effects is that a quiver electron has time to change sufficiently its impact parameter due to multiple oscillations close to an ion and collides much more efficiently. It is shown that the effect of "Coulomb logarithm" is absent in super strong fields. Estimations for effective cross-section are derived. It is shown that the focusing properties of the ion potential lead to larger values of effective cross-section and Joule heating. In particular the Joule heating doesn't decrease with the field intensity increase. Applicability conditions of experimental observation of the predicted phenomena are discussed.

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