Plasma recoil induced by laser radiated solid target

Based on the theory of conservation of momentum, a theoretical method of calculating the shock pressure induced by laser loading via diagnosing plasma recoil momentum is presented. When a high-power laser irradiates a solid target surface, the plasma jet with high velocity induced by laser has a recoil effect on the target. Then the plasma recoil momentum induced by laser irradiating solid target can be calculated by the distribution of electron plasma. At the same time, the subcritical electron plasma density could be measured by interferometry and the supercritical plasma density could be fitted into exponential function form. So the variation of shock wave pressure could be calculated via diagnosing plasma recoil momentum. This method does not consider the relationship between D and u, nor uses the window material nor needs the steady shock propagation. It is a useful method of studying the material property under high strain rate and isentropic compression. Numerical simulation results using one-dimensional radiation hydro code called MULTI for laser intensities ranging from 5 × 10¹² W/cm² to 5 × 10¹³ W/cm² are presented. The electron temperature is nearly equal to the ion temperature for the laser pulse duration τ > 2 ns but much greater than the ion temperature for τ = 1 ns. This means for that ns pulse duration, the difference between electron and ion temperature could be ignored in general. And in order to fit the shock pressure value more exactly, the density of ablation surface n_abl = n₀ exp(-1) is used in the simulations. The simulation results indicate that the value of calculating shock pressure obtained via diagnosing plasma recoil momentum is similar to the shock pressure calculated by MULTI simulation for ns pulse duration. And the value of calculating shock pressure is also similar to the experimental value for pulse duration τ = 5 ns. From the simulation results, it is obvious that the method of calculating the shock pressure via diagnosing plasma recoil momentum is effective and feasible.