Laser driven shocks in aluminum using a short pulse table-top system

In laser induced shock wave experiments, a short pulse, high intensity laser is used to drive a high pressure shock wave into a material. These experiments often employ an aluminum driver layer. We report on a joint experimental and theoretical effort to better understand the behavior of this aluminum driver layer under the high pressure conditions relevant to ultrafast compression present during shock experiments. This study aims to further enhance the maximum pressure capabilities of short pulse table top laser systems. The samples pre- pared for study consisted of an aluminum driver layer with a sapphire tamper. The drive pressure induced was studied as a function of thicknesses of both the Al drive layer and the tamper. The pressure induced in the aluminum will be obtained using wave speeds measured via linear spectroscopy. To support this study, simulations were used to model the induced pressure for various ex- perimental setups using both hydro-codes and codes capable of simulating the laser-matter interaction interaction. Comparisons with the experimental data give insight into the hydrodynamics of the shock, as well as to verify the validity of these codes in this regime. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.This work was supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency under Award No. HDTRA12020001. LLNL-ABS-824421.