Production of hot near-solid-density plasma by electron energy transport in a laser-produced plasma

G. J. Tallents; M. H. Key; P. Norreys; D. Brown; J. Dunn; H. Baldis

doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.40.2857

Rapid Communication

Production of hot near-solid-density plasma by electron energy transport in a laser-produced plasma

G. J. Tallents, M. H. Key, P. Norreys, D. Brown, J. Dunn, and H. Baldis

Phys. Rev. A 40, 2857(R) – Published 1 September 1989

Abstract

Targets with a layer of aluminum buried beneath a plastic overlay have been irradiated with 0.53 μm wavelength, 20-ps pulse length light at (1–2)× $10^{16}$ W ${cm}^{- 2}$ . The widths of Stark broadened Al xii 1 $s^{21}$ $S_{0}$ –1s3p ${}^{1}P_{1}$ spectral lines and the ratios of satellite line intensities to the Al xii 1 $s^{2}$ m ${}^{1}S_{0}$ –1s2p ${}^{1}P_{1}$ spectral line emitted from the aluminum layer imply electron densities up to (6–8)× $10^{22}$ ${cm}^{- 3}$ . This result is a direct observation of significant energy transport to densities close to solid.