Stopping power of a buffer gas for laser plasma debris mitigation
- ETH Zurich, Sonneggstrasse 3, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland)
- Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villingen-PSI (Switzerland)
The stopping power of a buffer gas against laser-plasma debris is quantitatively assessed by means of visualization techniques. For ablation of planar tin targets in an Ar ambient, an expanding wavefront was visualized, whose translation energy was rapidly reduced within a few millimeters above the target surface. The fastest debris component was along the normal to the target with an initial kinetic energy of 1.1 keV. The buffer gas efficiency changed in a line-of-sight-dependent way, thermalizing more efficiently the on-axis components. The maximum stopping power of the gas buffer was determined as high as 0.4 keV/mm. Due to the reduction in stopping power, nonlinearly with the debris kinetic energy, a gas buffer thickness of 10 mm is required at the studied atmospheric pressure in order to mitigate high energy debris below a fiducial threshold of 0.1 keV.
- OSTI ID:
- 21359392
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 106, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3271142; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Aerosol-Assisted Solid Debris Collection for the National Ignition Facility
High Energy Laser for Space Debris Removal