Collision and interpenetration of plasmas created by laser-illuminated disks

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Physics of Fluids B; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.860114· OSTI ID:7275878

Bosch, R A; Berger, R L; Failor, B H; Delamater, N D; Charatis, G ^[1]; Kauffman, R L ^[2]

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1. KMS Fusion, Inc., P.O. Box 1567, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1567 (United States)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)

Supersonic, counterstreaming plasmas were produced by ablating plasma from the inside surfaces of two parallel disks made of aluminum and magnesium, respectively, with a 0.53 {mu}m laser at an intensity of 10{sup 14} W/cm{sup 2} for 1.3 nsec. Diagnostics included holographic interferometry, a time-integrated x-ray pinhole camera and a gated x-ray crystal spectrograph with imaging slits. The plasmas interpenetrate for the first half of the laser pulse but stagnate once the electron density exceeds 5{times}10{sup 20} cm{sup {minus}3}. Spectroscopic measurements suggest a coronal electron temperature of {similar to}800 eV and an ion temperature of {similar to}15 keV in the stagnated plasma. The observations are in good agreement with a two ion fluid model of interpenetrating plasmas in which the dominant slowing down process is ion--ion collisions.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-87DP10560
• OSTI ID: 7275878
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (United States), Vol. 4:4; ISSN 0899-8221
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALUMINIUM
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
COLLISIONS
MAGNESIUM
ABLATION
ELECTRON DENSITY
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ION TEMPERATURE
ION-ION COLLISIONS
LASER-RADIATION HEATING
MACH NUMBER
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA PRODUCTION
SUPERSONIC FLOW
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
ELEMENTS
FLUID FLOW
HEATING
ION COLLISIONS
METALS
PLASMA
PLASMA HEATING
SPECTROSCOPY
VELOCITY
700350* - Plasma Production
Heating
Current Drive
& Interactions- (1992-)