Temporally resolved schlieren images of a laser-generated plasma

Author

Camacho, J.F. ; Bliss, D.E. ; Cameron, S.M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Appl. Sci., California Univ., Davis, CA, USA

Volume

30

Issue

1

fYear

2002

fDate

2/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

42

Lastpage

43

Abstract

Temporally resolved images of a long-scalelength aluminum plasma (L ⩾ 100 μm, 10¹⁹ cm^-3 ⩽ n_e ⩽ 10²⁰ cm^-3, T_e ≈ T_i ≈ 50 eV, Z¯ ≈ 8.5) were obtained with a charge coupled device camera using the schlieren diagnostic technique. The schlieren imaging probe beam was a 15-mm diameter, 5-mJ, 266-nm, 110-ns FWHM laser pulse that uniformly illuminated the plasma. The probe beam was fired at various times relative to the plasma formation beam on a shot-to-shot basis, and refracted light components from the probe beam produced "snapshots" of schlieren images showing the radial and axial evolution of the plasma. These images can be used to estimate the plasma\´s expansion velocity and electron density profile as a function of time

Keywords

plasma density; plasma diagnostics; plasma production by laser; schlieren systems; 110 ns; 15 mm; 266 nm; 5 mJ; 50 eV; 7.5 mm; Al; axial evolution; charge coupled device camera; electron density diagnostics; electron density profile; laser pulse; laser-generated plasma; long-scale length aluminum plasma; plasma expansion velocity; plasma formation; probe beam; radial evolution; schlieren diagnostic technique; schlieren images; schlieren imaging probe beam; shot-to-shot basis; temporally resolved schlieren images; time dependence; uniform illumination; Aluminum; Charge-coupled image sensors; Image resolution; Laser beams; Optical pulses; Particle beams; Plasma density; Plasma devices; Plasma diagnostics; Probes;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2002.1003914

Filename

1003914