Control of ion-velocity distributions in laser-target interaction experiments
Abstract
The width of ion-velocity distributions from laser-produced plasmas can be controlled experimentally by varying the size of the laser spot. This ion-velocity width is determined primarily by whether the ions are mostly in the rarefaction or steady-state regime. It is not dominated by the thermal distribution of the ions, as is sometimes assumed. A simple analytic theory shows that the distribution width is governed by the scaling parameter rs/cτ, where rs is the focal spot radius, c is the sound speed, and τ is the laser pulse length.
- Publication:
-
Physics of Fluids
- Pub Date:
- October 1986
- DOI:
- 10.1063/1.865854
- Bibcode:
- 1986PhFl...29.3390G
- Keywords:
-
- Ion Distribution;
- Laser Target Interactions;
- Velocity Distribution;
- Ionic Mobility;
- Laser Plasmas;
- Plasma Physics