Foil acceleration by intense, pulsed, light-ion beam ablation

Summary form only given, as follows. Using high-density ablation plasma produced by an intense pulsed ion beam interaction with aluminum target, foil acceleration has been studied both experimentally and numerically. Two kinds of ion-beam diodes have been used in the experiment; magnetically insulated diode (MID) and self-magnetically insulated, spherically focused plasma focus diode (SPFD). The MID gives us the energy density on target up to 200 J/cm, while the SPFD 4.3 kJ/cm. The target was 50 /spl mu/m-thick aluminum. At the energy density of 4.3 kJ/cm/sup 2/ by SPFD, we have experimentally achieved the velocity of 8 km/s, and the ablation pressure of 13 GPa. In addition, using a double-layer target, where gold is coated (0/spl sim/2 gm-thick) on aluminum, the enhancement of the velocity and pressure than without gold coated has been observed at certain thickness of gold. By a simple MHD code, furthermore, we have studied the behavior of the target. Compared with the experiment and the simulation, the basic mechanism and physics have been made clear. Furthermore, the change of properties of materials has been studied in such an extreme energy-density state.