We report the application of a technique for performing opacity measurements on hot, dense plasmas. Plasmas were generated by using the x rays emitted from a laser-produced gold plasma to heat an aluminum sample. Observations were made using the technique of point projection spectroscopy. The distribution of ion stages observed is compared with predictions based on Saha distributions, at densities and temperatures deduced from hydrodynamic simulations.
Time-resolved x-ray spectra from solid targets irradiated by the VULCAN Petawatt laser focused to 1020Wcm−2 show that material at solid density is heated to temperatures above 500 eV to a depth of about 15 μm and for a duration of more than 30 ps. Modeling with the implicit hybrid plasma code LSP shows that the heating is sensitive to the laser prepulse through resistive inhibition of the laser accelerated electrons in the blow off layer.
The first measurements of the opacity in a well characterized, hot, dense, laser-produced plasma are reported. Measurements of the absorption of x rays by l to 2 transitions in Alxit through Alviit have been made in a laser heated slab plasma at the measured temperature and density of 58+ 4 eV and 0.020 0.007 g/cm . The conditions in the plasma were determined to be reproducible, spatially uniform, and in nearly complete local thermodynamic equilibrium.The absorption spectra and the temperature-density data obtained provide an improved means for comparison with detailed atomic physics and opacity calculations.
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