Optical Ion Velocity Diagnostics in the Interaction of a Laser Produced Plasma and an Ambient Magnetized Plasma

POSTER

Abstract

Measuring particle velocities is crucial to understanding plasma dynamics in the study of diamagnetic cavity formation, anomalous magnetic diffusion, plasma instabilities, and collisionless shock formation. We present two methods of measuring super-Alfv\'{e}nic particles in a laser-produced plasma (LPP). The first uses a high spectral resolution monochromator to measure fluorescence from beam ions to determine velocity distributions by charge state. Fluorescence traces were time-integrated to conduct a low resolution spectroscopic survey. The resulting spectra can be compared to NIST and collisional-radiative model data in order to evaluate the population densities and temperatures. Additionally, we propose an innovative application of laser induced fluorescence (LIF) on an expanding, super-Alfv\'{e}nic LPP. LIF is a widely used, noninvasive optical technique that can determine ion distributions, velocities, and qualitative concentrations with a high degree of spatial and temporal resolution. By using collisional-radiative simulations, we have identified the configurations with the best signal to noise ratio SNR. Hybrid simulation results are displayed to help visualize the expected results.

Authors

  • Robert Dorst

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Peter Heuer

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Martin Weidl

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Derek Schaeffer

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Carmen Constantin

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Stephen Vincena

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Sreekrishna Tripathi

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Walter Gekelman

    • Univerrsity of California, Los Angeles
    • University of California, Los Angeles
    • Basic Plasma Science Facility at UCLA
    • UCLA

  • Dan Winske

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • D. J. Larson

    • Lawrence Livermoore National Laboratory
    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Christoph Niemann

    • University of California, Los Angeles