High-energy electrons produced after the interaction of a laser beam with a plasma in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion. High laser beam energy is required to compress the D-T target. When this beam interacts with the generated plasma, high-frequency instabilities (e.g. two-plasmon decay and stimulated Raman scattering) can occur. The instabilities cause part of the laser energy to be transferred to the electrons in the plasma. Energetic (hot, suprathermal) electrons with nominal temperatures of approximately 40—50 keV can propagate through the fuel target, preheat it, and reduce the compression efficiency.