Generation of strongly-coupled plasma using Argon-based capillary discharge lasers

TY - GEN

T1 - Generation of strongly-coupled plasma using Argon-based capillary discharge lasers

AU - Rossall, Andrew K.

AU - Aslanyan, Valentin

AU - Wilson, Sarah

AU - Tallents, Greg J.

N1 - © (2015) Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2015/9/22

Y1 - 2015/9/22

N2 - Argon based capillary discharge lasers operate in the extreme ultra violet (EUV) at 46.9 nm with an output of up to 0.5 mJ energy per pulse and up to a 10 Hz repetition rate. Focussed irradiances of up to 1012 W cm-2 are achievable and can be used to generate plasma in the warm dense matter regime by irradiating solid material. To model the interaction between such an EUV laser and solid material, the 2D radiative-hydrodynamic code POLLUX has been modified to include absorption via direct photo-ionisation, a super-configuration model to describe the ionisation dependant electronic configurations and a calculation of plasma refractive indices for ray tracing of the incident EUV laser radiation. A simulation study is presented, demonstrating how capillary discharge lasers of 1.2ns pulse duration can be used to generate strongly coupled plasma at close to solid density with temperatures of a few eV and energy densities up to 1×105 J cm-3. Plasmas produced by EUV laser irradiation are shown to be useful for examining the equation-of-state properties of warm dense matter. One difficulty with this technique is the reduction of the strong temperature and density gradients which are produced during the interaction. Methods to inhibit and control these gradients will be examined.

AB - Argon based capillary discharge lasers operate in the extreme ultra violet (EUV) at 46.9 nm with an output of up to 0.5 mJ energy per pulse and up to a 10 Hz repetition rate. Focussed irradiances of up to 1012 W cm-2 are achievable and can be used to generate plasma in the warm dense matter regime by irradiating solid material. To model the interaction between such an EUV laser and solid material, the 2D radiative-hydrodynamic code POLLUX has been modified to include absorption via direct photo-ionisation, a super-configuration model to describe the ionisation dependant electronic configurations and a calculation of plasma refractive indices for ray tracing of the incident EUV laser radiation. A simulation study is presented, demonstrating how capillary discharge lasers of 1.2ns pulse duration can be used to generate strongly coupled plasma at close to solid density with temperatures of a few eV and energy densities up to 1×105 J cm-3. Plasmas produced by EUV laser irradiation are shown to be useful for examining the equation-of-state properties of warm dense matter. One difficulty with this technique is the reduction of the strong temperature and density gradients which are produced during the interaction. Methods to inhibit and control these gradients will be examined.

KW - EUV lasers

KW - High energy density physics

KW - Laser ablation

KW - Strongly-coupled plasma

KW - Warm dense matter

KW - X-ray lasers

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84950335467&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1117/12.2188009

DO - 10.1117/12.2188009

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:84950335467

SN - 9781628417555

VL - 9589

BT - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

PB - SPIE

T2 - X-Ray Lasers and Coherent X-Ray Sources: Development and Applications XI Conference

Y2 - 12 August 2015 through 13 August 2015

ER -