Time-resolved measurements of the laser burn-through of thin foils

New time-and-space-resolved measurements of the burn-through of 0.05–0.34 μm thick plastic foils irradiated with 100 psec, 1.06 μm laser pulses at approximately 1016 Wcm−1 are presented. Comparison of the time history of the transparency of the foils with analytic and computational models suggests that the targets do not transmit until the density is well below the critical density. Comparison of the space-resolved burn-through measurements with an analytic model suggests that lateral thermal conduction is negligible. It is proposed that ion turbulence may be responsible for the high absorption and low thermal conductivity.