Study of boron and molybdenum plasmas on multipulse interaction of femtosecond radiation with a target

Abstract

Laser plasmas generated by femtosecond radiation on the surface of boron and molybdenum targets are investigated by the shadowgraph method. The modes of single-pulse and multipulse interaction of laser radiation with a target are compared. The occurrence of plasma bullets is discussed, which were observed on both single-pulse and multipulse interaction with the same area of a target. The wavefront velocities of expanding boron and molybdenum plasmas were measured to be 5 × 104 and 6 × 103 m s−1, respectively. The electron density measured by interferometry using a time delay of 800 ps in a boron plasma excited by 795-nm radiation with an intensity of 1016 W cm−2 amounted to 8 × 1019 cm−3. The correlation between some specific features of the plasma and the generation of the 3/2 harmonic, observed on multipulse interaction of femtosecond radiation with a boron target, is discussed.