Electron-ion collisions in ultra-high illuminated plasmas

The processes of electron-ion collisions in plasma in strong fields are discussed. Some arguments in favor of the determining role of near-collisions in such regimes are presented. Some effects caused by the focusing properties of the Coulomb potential are demonstrated both numerically and analytically. It is shown that in strong fields the effect of the "Coulomb logarithm" does not occur. Some estimations of effective scattering cross section in strong microwaves show that this is more than it was assumed earlier and, in particular, the Joule losses in plasma do not decrease as the field increases. The additional strong bunching effect is found. The applicability conditions of the experimental observation of the predicted effects are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.