Characterization and modeling of the ablation plumes formed by intense-pulsed ion beam impact on solid targets

An investigation of the properties of the ablation products from intense-pu lsed ion beam impact on solid targets is described. Measurements and calcul ations of the properties of the ablation plume are presented and correlated with incident beam parameters. Experimental techniques include Thomson par abola particle spectroscopy to measure the incident ion beam atomic composi tion and the energy spectrum of each beam component, thermal imaging to mea sure the incident-beam energy density, time-resolved photography to measure the plume expansion time history and geometry, and time-resolved energy-de nsity measurements of the plume. The results of a thermal transport model o f the beam-target interaction are presented, and a detailed comparison with measurements is made. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979( 99)06702-X].