Optical Ion Velocity Diagnostics in the Interaction of a Laser Produced Plasma and an Ambient Magnetized Plasma
Abstract
Measuring particle velocities is crucial to understanding plasma dynamics in the study of diamagnetic cavity formation, anomalous magnetic diffusion, plasma instabilities, and collisionless shock formation. We present two methods of measuring super-Alfvénic particles in a laser-produced plasma (LPP). The first uses a high spectral resolution monochromator to measure fluorescence from beam ions to determine velocity distributions by charge state. Fluorescence traces were time-integrated to conduct a low resolution spectroscopic survey. The resulting spectra can be compared to NIST and collisional-radiative model data in order to evaluate the population densities and temperatures. Additionally, we propose an innovative application of laser induced fluorescence (LIF) on an expanding, super-Alfvénic LPP. LIF is a widely used, noninvasive optical technique that can determine ion distributions, velocities, and qualitative concentrations with a high degree of spatial and temporal resolution. By using collisional-radiative simulations, we have identified the configurations with the best signal to noise ratio SNR. Hybrid simulation results are displayed to help visualize the expected results.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019APS..DPPP10011D