Light absorption in laser-heated cavities

Abstract

The absorption of laser light in 0.25–1 mm diameter gold cavities, irradiated for the purpose of generating high-temperature blackbody radiation with intense laser radiation of either λ=0.44 μm or λ=1.3 μm wavelength, was investigated. For λ=0.44 μm radiation the absorption exceeded 0.9 for all conditions, but dropped to only 0.3 for the smallest cavities irradiated at λ=1.3 μm. Entrance hole and cavity filling with plasma seems important for the understanding of the observations.