Interaction Between Laser-Produced Plasma Plumes and Outflows from Conical Wire Array Z-Pinches

Abstract

The production of an interacting region of plasmas using laser-produced plasma plumes and jet-like plasma outflows emitted by a conical wire array Z-pinch is experimentally studied. The jet-like outflow is produced by a conical wire array of 16 aluminum wires (40μm diameter each) acting as load of the Llampudken generator (~400kA, ~350ns). The laser plasma plume (LPP) is produced by focusing a 10 10 W/cm 2 laser pulse onto an aluminum target. The target for LPP is located above the anode, parallel to the axis where jet-like plasma outflow propagates. To avoid direct exposure of the target from any emission aside from the jet-like plasma, a thick metallic lid is used as blockage for the array load. The primary diagnostic is laser interferometry aligned with the target surface. Our experimental results show that in the absence of LPP, there is no significant propagation nor interaction of the photoionized ablated target surface with the jet-like plasma. On the contrary, when combining both plasma sources, a new structure appears in the region where both plasmas interact. The thickness of this structure agrees with ion-ion mean free path calculations suggesting the presence of a shock layer created after the interaction. Further details and potential applications will be shown and discussed.