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Laser Plasmas & Fusion
High power lasers focussed onto solid or sometimes gaseous targets are used to produce plasmas. These plasmas rapidly expand, but interesting high density states of matter are briefly produced (see, for example, the discussion on warm dense plasmas below). Laser-plasmas are sources for high energy particles (electrons and ions) and bright emitters of x-ray and extreme ultra-violet (EUV) light. The high density plasmas produced by laser irradiation can be used to simulate astrophysical plasma expansion and to understand plasma properties (such as opacity). Researchers in the Department are investigating these and other aspects of laser-produced plasmas.
Warm dense matter transport experiments
The transport of laser generated relativistic electrons in materials with temperatures of approximately one million Kelvin, and densities of 1g/cc or higher, is of considerable importance to Fast Ignition. Such experiments require both high energy nanosecond and picosecond duration beams, to, respectively, form the warm dense matter, and drive the relativistic electron beam. The Vulcan laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is an example of such a facility capable of this.
2-D radiation hydrodynamics simulations
In considering the behavior of materials at high temperatures, it is often important to consider the effects of the radiation that is emitted by the material upon the dynamics of the physical system. Radiation can couple energy between spatially separated regions and allow for fluid to be accelerated, heated and compressed without mechanical intervention. In order to assist us in the design and analysis of experiments, in which targets often exceed temperatures of a million Kelvin, we employ sophisticated two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamics modeling using the code h2d. This code is hosted at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
