DEVELOPMENT OF A LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA TARGET FOR BEAM-PLASMA INTER-ACTION RESEARCHES

A laser-produced plasma target system was developed for beam-plasma in teraction experiments concerning heavy-ion inertial fusion. Irradiatin g a small particle of lithium hydride (LiH) with a pulsed laser, trans formed the particle into a plasma. The isotropy of the plasma expansio n was monitored by charge collectors. The electron density distributio n was measured by interferometry. For particle sizes below and irradia tion energies above certain critical values, we obtained a spherically symmetric Gaussian-like density distribution and a high degree of ion ization. The expected density and size of the spherical plasma as a ta rget for ion beams are roughly similar to 10(18) cm(-3) and similar to 1 mm, respectively. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.