Cylindrical compression of thin wires by irradiation with a Joule-class short pulse laser
Abstract
Equation of state measurements at Jovian or stellar conditions are currently conducted by dynamic shock compression driven by multi-kilojoule multi-beam nanosecond-duration lasers. These experiments require precise design of the target and specific tailoring of the spatial and temporal laser profiles to reach the highest pressures. At the same time, the studies are limited by the low repetition rate of the lasers. Here, we show that by the irradiation of a thin wire with single beam Joule-class short-pulse laser, a converging cylindrical shock is generated compressing the wire material to conditions relevant for the above applications. The shockwave was observed using Phase Contrast Imaging employing a hard X-ray Free Electron Laser with unprecedented temporal and spatial sensitivity. The data collected for Cu wires is in agreement with hydrodynamic simulations of an ablative shock launched by a highly-impulsive and transient resistive heating of the wire surface. The subsequent cylindrical shockwave travels towards the wire axis and is predicted to reach a compression factor of 9 and pressures above 800 Mbar. Simulations for astrophysical relevant materials underline the potential of this compression technique as a new tool for high energy density studies at high repetition rates.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2402.06983,
title = {Cylindrical compression of thin wires by irradiation with a Joule-class short pulse laser},
author = {Alejandro Laso Garcia and Long Yang and Victorien Bouffetier and Karen Apple and Carsten Baehtz and Johannes Hagemann and Hauke Höppner and Oliver Humphries and Mikhail Mishchenko and Motoaki Nakatsutsumi and Alexander Pelka and Thomas R. Preston and Lisa Randolph and Ulf Zastrau and Thomas E. Cowan and Lingen Huang and Toma Toncian},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.06983},
year = {2024}
}