Observation of Indirect, Time-Dependent Heating of Solid Targets from Ultraintense, Ultrashort Pulse Laser Light

Author

Shepherd, Roderick ; Hui Chen ; Faenov, A. ; Pikuz, T. ; Widmann, K. ; Dyer, G. ; Yuan Ping ; Wilks, S. ; Hansen, Soren ; Hyun Kyung Chung ; Fournier, K.B. ; Niles, A. ; Hunter, Jane ; Ditmire, T.

Author_Institution

Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab., CA

fYear

2005

fDate

20-23 June 2005

Firstpage

173

Lastpage

173

Abstract

Summary form only given. We have observed indirect, picosecond heating of solid targets from high intensity (>10¹⁷ W/cm ²), ultrashort pulse (500 fs) laser pulses. The study was performed on foil targets consisting of 1000 Aring Al and 12.5 mum Ti. The targets were illuminated from the aluminum side to eliminate direct laser heating of the Ti foil. Time-resolved measurements of the Ti K_alpha (2.749 Aring) were made using a sub-picosecond X-ray streak camera interfaced to a von Hamos crystal spectrograph. In addition to the time-resolved Ti K_alpha data, a spherical crystal, X-ray imaging spectrometer was fielded to determine the emission region of the Ti K_alpha and an electron spectrometer was used to observe the non-thermal electron distribution. Finally, the spectrally resolved backscattered laser light was observed to help determine if laser-driven instabilities produce the hot electrons. The data will be presented along with a preliminary interpretation of the results

Keywords

aluminium; foils; high-speed optical techniques; plasma diagnostics; plasma heating by laser; plasma instability; titanium; 1000 angstrom; 12.5 mum; 2.749 angstrom; 500 fs; Al-Ti; X-ray imaging spectrometer; X-ray streak camera; electron spectrometer; laser-driven instabilities; nonthermal electron distribution; solid target heating; time-resolved measurements; ultrashort pulse laser light; von Hamos crystal spectrograph; Acoustic pulses; Heating; Laboratories; Laser theory; Optical propagation; Optical pulses; Physics; Solid lasers; Underwater acoustics; X-ray lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Plasma Science, 2005. ICOPS '05. IEEE Conference Record - Abstracts. IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Monterey, CA

ISSN

0730-9244

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9300-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PLASMA.2005.359184

Filename

4198443