Ultrahigh Acceleration of Plasma Blocks by Nonlinear Forces for Side-On Laser Ignition of Solid Density Fusion Fuel

A fundamental difference of very high intensity laser interaction with plasmas from solid targets appears with lasing at picosecond （ps） pulse durations in contrast to pulses of nanosec-onds （ns）. This can be seen from the more than 10,000 times higher acceleration with ps pulse du-rations than with thermal pressure determined interaction. A ps pulse duration produces instantly acting high-efficiency nonlinear （ponderomotive） electrodynamic force dominated acceleration in contrast to heating with longer pulses. The ps pulses accelerate high-density plasma blocks. This can be used by a new scheme of side-on driven laser fusion with generating a flame ignition in uncompressed fusion fuel of solid density resulting in a reaction velocity of more than 2000 km/s for DT.