Characterization of laser-produced carbon plasmas relevant to laboratory astrophysics

Abstract

Experiments, analytic modeling, and numerical simulations are presented to characterize carbon plasmas produced by high-intensity (109−1013 W cm−2) lasers relevant to experimental laboratory astrophysics. In the large-scale limit, the results agree well with a self-similar isentropic, adiabatic fluid model. Laser-target simulations, however, show small-scale structure in the velocity distribution of different ion species, which is also seen in experiments. These distributions indicate that most of the plasma energy resides in moderate charge states (C+3–C+4), most of the mass resides in the lowest charge states, and the highest charge states move fastest.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jul 22, 2016
Source ID
10.1063/1.4959148

Entities

People

  • A. S. Bondarenko
  • C. G. Constantin
  • Christoph Niemann
  • Derek Schaeffer
  • E. T. Everson
  • S. E. Clark

Organizations

  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency
  • National Science Foundation
  • United States Department of Energy
  • University of California, Los Angeles

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster