Characterization of a controlled plasma expansion in vacuum for laser driven ion acceleration

Alessandro Flacco (1, 2) , Alain Guemnie-Tafo (1) , Rachel Nuter (3) , Mina Veltcheva (4) , D. Batani (4) , E. Lefebvre (3) , Victor Malka (1)

1 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
2 Dipartimento di Fisica
3 DPTA - Département de Physique Théorique et Appliquée
4 Dipartimento di Fisica "Giuseppe Occhialini" = Department of Physics "Giuseppe Occhialini" [Milano-Bicocca]

We present experimental and numerical results on the formation of a controlled plasma density gradient in front of a solid target irradiated with a subpicosecond, moderate intensity laser pulse. Interferometry with femtosecond probe is used to map the temporal evolution of the spatial density distribution of the generated plasma. Experimental results are found to be in good agreement with 1D1/2 hydrodynamic simulations. Moreover, these numerical simulations enable us to determine the impact of such a heating beam on the target rear surface and to correlate the plasma gradient that can be produced on the illuminated surface with the position of the shock wave in the bulk.

Keywords: interferometry; plasma density; plasma diagnostics; plasma heating by laser; plasma production by laser; plasma shock waves; plasma simulation; interferometers

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

Alessandro Flacco, Alain Guemnie-Tafo, Rachel Nuter, Mina Veltcheva, D. Batani, et al.. Characterization of a controlled plasma expansion in vacuum for laser driven ion acceleration. Journal of Applied Physics, 2008, 104 (10), pp.103304. ⟨10.1063/1.3021316⟩. ⟨hal-00501508⟩