The interaction of a high-intensity laser beam with a solid target generates a large number
of fast electrons with long mean free paths. The study of these fast electrons is still
the subject of active research, given their relevance to Tabak's [2] proposed fast-ignition
approach to inertial confinement fusion. Conventional methods for simulating this system
fall into two categories: kinetic and hybrid codes. Kinetic codes (Vlasov Fokker-Planck
(VFP) and Particle in Cell (PIC) codes) provide an almost complete description of the
system, but are often computationally expensive. Conventional hybrid codes simulate
the fast-electrons well using a PIC code, but simplify the simulation of the background
by using a rudimentary fluid model.
In this thesis I present a new approach to modelling relativistic electrons propagating
through a background plasma. This novel approach includes an improved classical transport
description of the background plasma by using the VFP code IMPACT [21]. The
fast electrons are modelled in two ways. Firstly, a 1D crude rigid beam model is used
for the fast electrons. This gives rise to interesting transport effects in the background,
such as transverse heat flow and non-local transport. It is found that the transverse heat flow is sufficient to reverse the `beam hollowing' effect of Davies et al [74] , allowing the
reemergence of a fast electron collimating magnetic field over picosecond timescales. The
second approach is to couple a PIC code into IMPACT to model the dynamic evolution of
the fast electron beam. The scheme is tested against relevant beam-plasma phenomena.
The code is used to model fast electron transport in 2D through a near-solid density
background plasma. The significant result from this 2D investigation is the suppression
of the filamentation instability by the resistively collimating field that surrounds the main
beam.