High-Energy Ion Expansion in Laser-Plasma Interactions

Abstract

Measurements of energetic-ion energy distributions produced from C${\mathrm{D}}_{2}$ and C${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$ targets are compared with a numerical model. The model describes the ambipolar expansion of hot electrons and two relatively cold ion species from an electron pressure gradient. For C${\mathrm{D}}_{2}$ the plasma expansion is adequately represented by a single ion species, whereas for C${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$ two-ion fluids are required to account for the energy and the relative behavior of the high-energy ion species.