Plasma production from solid targets by nanosecond prepulses

摘要

A model of the laser‐plasma‐solid system is developed to study the dynamics of the laser prepulse interaction with initially solid slabs. Experiments are conducted using aluminum wires and fast‐rise ruby lasers and the results are used to verify the theoretical model. The results of numerical experiments are used to investigate the dependence of plasma formation on the prepulse parameters and to find those parameters which lead to efficient coupling of a subsequent giant heating pulse with the target material.