Collective Dynamics and Enhancement of Absorption in Deformed Targets

Absorption of intense femtosecond laser pulses in targets having either self-generated or imposed deformations is investigated with Vlasov simulations. Absorption attains high values and scales strongly with the deformation depth but weakly with density and intensity. Fast electron transport is mainly lateral for thin foils with small ratios of target thickness to deformation depth. For thick foils with larger ratios a single magnetic channel forms.