Time-resolved x-ray imaging of high-power laser-irradiated under-dense silica aerogels and agar foams
- and others
This paper presents the results of experiments in which a high-power laser was used to irradiate low density (4 - 9 mg/cm{sup 3}) silica aerogel and agar foam targets. The laser-solid interaction and energy transport through the material were monitored with time-resolved imaging diagnostics, and the data show the production and propagation of an x-ray emission front in the plasma. The emission-front trajectory data are found to be in significant disagreement with detailed simulations, which predict a much more rapid heating of the cold material, and the data suggest that this discrepancy is not explainable by target inhomogeneities. Evidence suggests that energy transport into the cold material may be dominated by thermal conduction; however, no completely satisfactory explanation for the discrepancies is identified, and further experimental and theoretical research is necessary in order to resolve this important problem in laser-plasma interaction physics.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 110674
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-117814; CONF-941101-14; ON: DE95017846; TRN: 95:007229
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, Minneapolis, MN (United States), 7-11 Nov 1994; Other Information: PBD: Aug 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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