Dense Plasma Heating and Radiation Generation.
Abstract
The research conducted consisted of three related studies of the interaction of a laser wth plasmas and solids. These studies were: (1) experimental and theoretical investigations of laser-plasma interactions, (2) experimental investigations of nonlinear optical mixing in a dense plasma, and (3) experimental investigations of solid-laser-plasma interactions. In addition, a survey was made of pulsed power techniques. A computer code has been developed to predict the interaction of a focused or collimated laser beam with a dense, fully ionized, hydrogen plasma. A laboratory constructed plasma source was designed and constructed to test the validity of this code. The results were informative, but indicated that this heating method only is useful under very stringent plasma parameter controls. In the laser-plasma-pellet experiment, a ruby laser was focused onto a polystyrene pellet positioned in a dense theta pinch plasma. The gas cloud ablated by the plasma and laser was studied, along with the effects on the pellet. A comparison with theory was also made. The agreement was, again, good. The survey of pulsed power techniques was made to provide a reference source for some of the important concepts in this field.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 30, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA089779
Entities
People
- M . Kristiansen
- M. O. Hagler
Organizations
- Texas Tech University