Investigations of a plasma formed by ultrashort laser pulses

Experimental investigations were made of the processes occurring during the high-temperature heating of plasma by ultrashort laser pulses focused onto the surface of lithium deuteride. The following methods were used in these experiments: schlieren photography of a plasma illuminated with ultrashort pulses; photography of an expanding plasma with an image converter; investigation of the time dependences of the reflection of laser pulses; determination of the electron temperature of a plasma from its x-ray emission. The principal processes which accompany the heating of a plasma by ultrashort pulses are considered theoretically within the framework of approximations based on experimental results.