Relativistic electron transport in wire and foil targets driven by intense short pulse lasers*

We model intense laser driven electron transport in wires and foils with the new implicit hybrid code e-PLAS. We focus on background plasma heating for Fast Ignitor applications. The model tracks collisional relativistic PIC electrons undergoing scatter and drag in a background plasma of colliding cold electron and ion Eulerian fluids. Application to 10 $\mu $m diameter, 250 $\mu $m long, fully ionized carbon wires with an attached cone [Kodama et al. Nature \textbf{432} 1005 (2004)], exposed to 1 ps, 10$^{19 }$W/cm$^{2}$ pulses in a 30 $\mu $m centered spot, directly calculates resistive Joule heating of the background electrons in the wire to 1.7 KeV. 150 MG magnetic fields arise at the wire surfaces corresponding to hot electron flow outside the wire and a return electron flow just within it. Shorter wires (25 $\mu $m) exhibit hot electron recycling. Preliminary simulations indicate that reduction of the cone to a 30 $\mu $m diameter nail head produces little change in these results. We also report on tapered wires, wires attached to foils, and the modifying effects of pre-plasma on electron transport into the foils.