Temperature and Expansion Energy of Laser Produced Plasmas II. Experiments

Abstract

Abstract Experiments on laser produced plasmas with light intensities between 2·10 11 and 5·10 12 W/cm 2 are reported. Measurements of the electron temperature and the expansion energy were performed. In the case of LiD targets the highest temperature observed was 200 eV. Using carbon targets a maximum temperature of 330 eV was measured. The corresponding expansion energies reach values as high as 13 keV. The experimental results are in good agreement with a stationary, hydrodynamic theory. We conclude from our data that in our LiD and C plasmas ions and electrons have the same temperature.