In this paper, the results of an experimental investigation of dust formation in a pulsed plasma accelerator, which is formed due to the interaction of a pulsed plasma flow with the candidate material of the thermonuclear reactor, are presented. Dynamic and optical properties of a pulsed plasma flow are considered. The results of the synergetic analysis by the Raman spectrometer of the target surface after irradiation with plasma are also presented. It was revealed that after interaction with the plasma, the surface of the graphite target becomes amorphous. Materials with fractal surfaces, similar to the materials formed in tokamaks under the action of erosion, were obtained experimentally. Using a high-speed camera Phantom v2512 video shooting of the plasma beam was carried out, during which it was revealed that the pulsed plasma beam has a speed of about 23 km/s.

The effects of high-Z dopant on the laser-driven ablative Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) are investigated by theoretical analysis and radiation hydrodynamics simulations. It is found that the oscillation amplitude of ablative RMI depends on the ablation velocity, the blow-off plasma velocity and the post-shock sound speed. Owing to enhancing the radiation at the plasma corona and increasing the radiation temperature at the ablation front, the high-Z dopant in plastic target can significantly increase the ablation velocity and the blow-off plasma velocity, leading to an increase in oscillation frequency and a reduction in oscillation amplitude of the ablative RMI. The high-Z dopant in plastic target is beneficial to reduce the seed of ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability. These results are helpful for the design of direct drive inertial confinement fusion capsules.

In this paper, the instability of electrostatic twisted modes carrying orbital angular momentum in the moving electron–positron–ion plasma is investigated. In the kinetic theory approach, the general dispersion relation of twisted modes is derived by using Laguerre–Gaussian perturbed distribution function and electrostatic potential in the paraxial limit. Utilizing the obtained general dispersion relation for a specific case of electron–positron (e–p) shell with temperature anisotropy interacted with moving ion background, the effects of angular mode number, electrons and positrons temperature, and positron concentration on the group velocity and instability growth rate of twisted waves are illustrated, numerically. The results of the present investigation will greatly attribute to the understanding of e–p jet dynamic in astrophysical environments and laboratory experiments where the twisted modes can play a central role as a perturbed term.

The pulse shaper based on a capacitive storage device with an active switch operating on a resistive load is considered. The electrical circuit includes a capacitor with a reference voltage for the stabilization of peak of the pulse. The capacitor connected in parallel with a load via the unilateral conductive switch. A general analysis of the shaping circuit was carried out. Analytical expressions for determination of the stabilization accuracy and the stabilization duration have been obtained. The results of computer simulation of dependence of these characteristics as function of pulse parameters and shaper features are presented. The influence of short-term and abrupt change of the resistance load on the stabilization process of peak of the pulse is considered. The possibility of obtaining of pulses with a controlled stability of pulse peaks <1% for pulses with duration to 100 µs at voltages up to 20 kV and energy stored in a capacitor to 3.4 kJ is shown in prototype of the shaper.

The effect of the transverse magnetic field on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and surface modifications of germanium (Ge) has been investigated at various fluences. Ge targets were exposed to Nd: YAG laser pulses (1064 nm, 10 ns, 1 Hz) at different fluences ranging from 3 to 25.6 J/cm2 to generate Ge plasma under argon environment at a pressure of 50 Torr. The magnetic field of strength 0.45 Tesla perpendicular to the direction of plasma expansion was employed by using two permanent magnets. The emission spectra of laser-induced Ge plasma was detected by the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy system. The electron temperature and number density of Ge plasma are evaluated by using the Boltzmann plot and stark broadening methods, respectively. The variations in emission intensity, electron temperature (Te), and number density (ne) of Germanium plasma are explored at various fluences, with and without employment of the magnetic field. It is observed that the magnetic field is responsible for significant enhancement of both excitation temperature and number density at all fluences. It is revealed that an excitation temperature increases from Te,max,without B = 16,190 to Te,max,with B = 20,123 K. Similarly, the two times enhancement in the electron density is observed from ne,max,without B = 2 × 1018 to ne,max,with B = 4 × 1018 cm−3. The overall enhancement in Ge plasma parameters in the presence of the magnetic field is attributed to the Joule heating effect and adiabatic compression. With increasing fluence both plasma parameters increase and achieve their maxima at a fluence of 12.8 J/cm2 and then decrease. In order to correlate the plasma parameters with surface modification, scanning electron microscope analysis of irradiated Ge was performed. Droplets and cones are formed for both cases. However, the growth of ridges and distinctness of features is more pronounced in case of the absence of the magnetic field; whereas surface structures become more diffusive in the presence of the magnetic field.

We present an overview of the performance of the Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment-II (NDCX-II) accelerator at Berkeley Lab, and report on recent target experiments on beam-driven melting and transmission ion energy loss measurements with nanosecond and millimeter-scale ion beam pulses and thin tin foils. Bunches with around 1011 ions, 1 mm radius, and 2–30 ns full width at half maximum duration have been created with corresponding fluences in the range of 0.1–0.7 J/cm2. To achieve these short pulse durations and mm-scale focal spot radii, the 1.1 MeV [megaelectronvolt (106 eV)] He+ ion beam is neutralized in a drift compression section, which removes the space charge defocusing effect during final compression and focusing. The beam space charge and drift compression techniques resemble necessary beam conditions and manipulations in heavy ion inertial fusion accelerators. Quantitative comparison of detailed particle-in-cell simulations with the experiment plays an important role in optimizing accelerator performance.

The transmitted and reflected second harmonics (SH) generation by an oblique p-polarized laser pulse irradiated on vacuum-magnetized plasma interface is investigated. The laser pulse propagates through a homogenous, underdense, and transversely magnetized plasma. The transverse magnetic field plays the role of a self-generated magnetic field produced in laser plasma interaction. It is shown that if the transmitted and reflected SH components investigated as a simultaneous process, the maximum SH power deviates from previous reports specially near the critical angle. The deviation increases with laser field intensity and plasma density. The results reveal that the conversion efficiency increases slightly by increasing incident angle and drastically enhances near the critical angle. We show that the transmitted SH power decreases by increasing the magnetic field strength, in contrast to the normal incidence, which the SH power is increased. The comparison revealed that the SH efficiency is greater for transmitted component, while the reflected component is more proper for technical and experimental applications. This paper not only conforms the previous reports for angle far from the critical but also modifies them for the SH generation near the critical angle. Moreover, this paper gives a new insight for SH generation by a magnetized plasma.

A current flowing between the ground and target exposed to the nanosecond laser radiation is analyzed to complete characteristics of laser ablation. Three phases of the target current are distinguished. During the ignition phase, the electron emission is driven by the laser pulse and the positive charge generated on the target is balanced by electrons coming from the ground through the target holder. At post-pulse times, a peaked waveform of the target current is typical for the active phase of the plasma and can give information on the material composition of the ablated surface layers. The afterglow phase is determined by a current of electrons flowing from the target to the ground. Experiment shows that the time-resolved target current is very sensitive to the actual composition of the surface layer of irradiated target and laser parameters.

Since the beginning of the 1960s and up to the present time, laser ablation from metal surfaces under the action of short light pulses has been the topic of many researches. One of the first objects in the early ablation experiments presented thin metal films evaporated by radiation, which were used in lasers with nanosecond pulses as optical gates for Q-switching in resonators or for decoupling in amplifiers. Bleaching of the gates based on metal layers with a time constant τt ≈ 10−8 s observed in a number of experiments, was usually considered as a result of a simple evaporation of matter. We analyze the data of the experiments with a mylar tape [≈0.05 µm aluminum (Al) layer on ≈20 µm lavsan substrate] used as a gate for optical isolation in one of the first Nd: glass laser facilities with a power of ≈1 GW. That gate was irradiated by pulses of Q-switched oscillators: pulse duration 10−7–10−8 s, intensity 107–108 W/cm2. A jump in the transmittance of the expanding Al layer was registered (from ≈0.1 to 50% at τt ≈ 10−9 s). The present study shows that one should consider the metal–insulator phase transition in a superheated liquid metal layer as the mechanism of the fast (up to 10–10–10–11 s) increase in the transmittance of the Al film gate at nanosecond-pulsed laser ablation.

A theoretical model is developed for studying the generation of third-harmonic radiation by the interaction of obliquely incident, two-color p-polarized laser beams with spatially varying plasma density. The ratio of the fundamental frequencies of the two laser beams are considered to be an arbitrary integer. The amplitude of harmonic radiation obtained by oblique incidence of two-color laser fields propagating in homogeneous plasma is enhanced in comparison with that obtained by normal incidence of two-color laser beams. The periodicity of the plasma density allows the harmonic radiation to be phase-matched, leading to further increase in the amplitude of phase-matched harmonic radiation by an order of magnitude. The amplitude of the generated harmonic radiation increases with the increase in angle of incidence.

It is proposed to assist and substantially increase the production of Plutonium 238 by inertial fusion inside a pipe made of stainless steel passing through the core of a conventional nuclear fission reactor, by injecting a stream of pellets of Neptunium 237 encapsulated liquid deuterium–tritium (DT) under high pressure. Then, if from both ends of the pipe, a pulse of multi-megajoule intense relativistic electron beams are injected, they will compress the pellets and heat the liquid DT to reach ignition, leading to a smoldering thermonuclear burn, releasing a burst of 14 MeV neutrons, converting the Neptunium 237 into Neptunium 238, which after leaving the pipe outside the reactor, will by radioactive decay be converted into Plutonium 238. This strategy permits that the surplus of neutrons are not lost, because they are absorbed in the bulk of the fission reactor and not lost into the environment.