A laser-produced lithium ion source for pulsed-power inertial confinement fusion

Author

Bieg, K.W. ; Tisone, G.C. ; Lockner, T.R. ; Bailey, J.E. ; Cuneo, M.E. ; Clark, B.F. ; Potter, J.E. ; Schanwald, L.P.

Author_Institution

Sandia Nat. Labs., Albuquerque, NM, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

2-5 July 1990

Firstpage

933

Lastpage

939

Abstract

We are investigating direct laser-produced plasmas as an ion source for the PBFA II pulsed power accelerator. Laser-generated plasmas have several potential advantages for this application, including the ability to generate a pre-formed anode plasma, simplicity, and flexibility. Previous experiments have shown that a high-density lithium plasma can be produced by direct laser irradiation of a solid lithium surface with a pulsed dye laser tuned to the Li 1s-2p resonance line at 670.8 nm (Laser Ionization Based On Resonant Saturation - LIBORS). We are also investigating a two-step approach, which uses a short-pulse Nd:YAG laser to efficiently vaporize the lithium-bearing source material, followed by LIBORS ionization of the evolving vapor to produce plasmas of mid-10¹⁶/cm³ densities.

Keywords

ion sources; plasma accelerators; plasma density; plasma inertial confinement; plasma production by laser; plasma sources; LIBORS ionization; Laser Ionization Based On Resonant Saturation; Li resonance line; PBFA II pulsed power accelerator; direct laser irradiation; direct laser-produced plasmas; high-density lithium plasma; laser-produced lithium ion source; lithium-bearing source material; plasma vapor; preformed anode plasma generation; pulsed dye laser; pulsed-power inertial confinement fusion; short-pulse Nd-YAG laser; solid lithium surface; wavelength 670.8 nm; Anodes; Ion sources; Laser beams; Lithium; Measurement by laser beam; Plasmas; Semiconductor lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

High-Power Particle Beams, 1990 8th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Novosibirsk

Print_ISBN

9.7898102055e+012

Type

conf

Filename

6396382