GENERATION OF HOT SOLID-DENSITY PLASMAS BY LASER-RADIATION PRESSURE CONFINEMENT

We report here on the effective confinement by the ponderomotive force of a plasma created by an intense, short, S-polarized laser pulse inc ident on a solid aluminum target. Our conclusions are supported by hyd rodynamics simulations, postprocessed with detailed spectroscopy and S tark line broadening calculations, and compared with experimental data . To produce this new kind of dense laboratory plasmas, results indica te the existence of an optimum in the laser irradiance which is around (5-7) x 10(17) W/cm(2) while the confinement needs a FWHM greater tha n 300 fs to be effective.