Hydrodynamic expansion of exploding-foil targets irradiated by 0.53 μm laser light

An experiment is reported in which several diagnostics were used to study the hydrodynamic expansion of exploding-foil targets. The CH targets, 1–3 μm thick, were irradiated with 3–4 kJ of 0.53 μm laser light in 1 nsec pulses. The electron density was diagnosed using the transmission and scattering of light at the laser frequency, the scattering of light at 3/2 of the laser frequency, the spectrum of Raman-scattered light, the x-ray spectrum from doped targets, and the image of the ultraviolet bremsstrahlung emission from the plasma. The measurements were consistent with one another, but generally were not consistent with two-dimensional computer simulations. The targets burned through later and took longer after burnthrough to reach quarter-critical density than predicted. This discrepancy may be a consequence of excessive profile steepening caused by the local, heat-transport model used in the simulation.