Study of plasma heating induced by fast electrons

Journal Article · Tue Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3261807· OSTI ID:21371250

Morace, A; Batani, D; Redaelli, R ^[1]; Magunov, A ^[2]; Fourment, C; Santos, J J; Malka, G ^[3]; Boscheron, A ^[4]; Casner, A ^[5]; Nazarov, W ^[6]; Vinci, T ^[7]; Okano, Y; Inubushi, Y; Nishimura, H ^[8]; Flacco, A ^[9]; Spindloe, C; Tolley, M ^[10]

---

1. University of Milano Bicocca, Milano 20126 (Italy)
2. General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russian Federation)
3. Universite de Bordeaux-CNRS-CEA, CELIA, Talence (France)
4. CEA/CESTA, Le Barp (France)
5. CEA-DAM, Bruyeres-le-Chatel (France)
6. University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews (United Kingdom)
7. CEA, Bruyeres le Chatel (France)
8. Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka (Japan)
9. LOA, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau (France)
10. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot (United Kingdom)

We studied the induced plasma heating in three different kinds of targets: mass limited, foam targets, and large mass targets. The experiment was performed at Alise Laser Facility of CEA/CESTA. The laser system emitted a approx1 ps pulse with approx10 J energy at a wavelength of approx1 {mu}m. Mass limited targets had three layers with thicknesses of 10 {mu}m C{sub 8}H{sub 8}, 1 {mu}m C{sub 8}H{sub 7}Cl, and 10 {mu}m C{sub 8}H{sub 8} with size of 100x100 {mu}m{sup 2}. Detailed spectroscopic analysis of x rays emitted from the Cl tracer showed that it was possible to heat up the plasma from mass limited targets to a temperature of approx250 eV with density of approx10{sup 21} cm{sup -3}. The plasma heating is only produced by fast electron transport in the target, being the 10 {mu}m C{sub 8}H{sub 8} overcoating thick enough to prevent any possible direct irradiation of the tracer layer even taking into account mass-ablation due to the prepulse. These results demonstrate that with mass limited targets, it is possible to generate a plasma heated up to several hundreds eV. It is also very important for research concerning high energy density phenomena and for fast ignition (in particular for the study of fast electrons transport and induced heating).

• OSTI ID: 21371250
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3261807; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ELECTRONS
ENERGY DENSITY
IGNITION
LASERS
PLASMA HEATING
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
HEATING
LEPTONS