Multiply charged ions from iodine laser-produced plasma of medium- and high-Z targets

Maximum charge states of ions registered in the far expansion zone from laser-produced plasma of Al, Co, Ni, Cu, Ta, W, Pt, Au, Pb, and Bi are presented. The Thomson parabola spectrometer was used to display a general view of the ion species of an expanding plasma while detailed ion charge-energy spectra were determined by the cylindrical electrostatic ion energy analyzer. The current densities of highly charged ion groups above 20 mA/cm2 were measured by use of an ion collector at a distance of 1 m from the target. The photodissociation iodine laser system PERUN (λ = 1.315 μm, power density up to 1015 W cm−2) was employed as a drive

Ion production by lasers using high-power densities in a near infrared region

Results are presented of experiments on ion production from Ta targets using a short pulse (350-600 ps in focus) illumination with focal power densities exceeding 1014 Wcm-2 at the wavelength of an iodine photodissociation laser (1.315 μm) and its harmonics. Strong evidence of the existence of tantalum ions with the charge state +45 near the target surface was obtained by X-ray spectroscopy methods. The particle diagnostics point to the existence of frozen high charge states (4 MeV) for the highest observed charge states. A tentative theoretical explanation of the observed anomalous charge state freezing phenomenon in the expanding plasma produced by a subnanosecond laser pulse is give

Microorganisms in selected sulphuric springs of the Polish Carpathians

Microorganisms colonising sulphurous waters were found at the bottoms of the spring niches and along spring outflows. Five springs from the Carpathians and two from the Carpathian Foredeep were selected for investigations. Sulphurous flora is represented mainly by sulphuric bacteria. They occur as individual threads, spider-webs, festoons, encrustations and covers. Their colours may be white, creamy, violet, pink and purple. Altogether 31 microorganism taxa: bacteria (16), cyanoprokaryota (3) and algae (12) were identified and illustrated. The bacterial occurrences have been correlated with physico-chemical state of the waters

Overview of the application of laser - based techniques in plasma - wall interaction research program at IFPiLM

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the progress in the application of the laser-based techniques which has been achieved in the research in the field of plasma-wall interaction (PWI) at the Division of Laser-Produced Plasmas (DLPP), Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion (IFPiLM, Warsaw, Poland) since 2005. The evolution of the experimental set-up which started in a simple configuration for the laser ablative co-deposit removal is presented with stress on the milestones which led to subsequent modifications, namely installation of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), fast HR (high resolution) CCDs, pulsed fiber-laser and the common triggering system

Fast ignition of precompressed fusion target by laser-driven plasma block: A concept and preliminary studies

The possibility of fast ignition of a fusion target by a high-density plasma (proton) block driven by the laser-induced skin-layer ponderomotive acceleration (S-LPA) mechanism is considered. The estimates show that using such a plasma block, the ignition threshold for precompressed DT fuel can be reached at the short-pulse laser energy $\le 100$ kJ

High Power Laser Laboratory at the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion : equipment and preliminary research

The purpose of this paper is to present the newly-opened High Power Laser Laboratory (HPLL) at the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion (IPPLM). This article describes the laser, the main laboratory accessories and the diagnostic instruments. We also present preliminary results of the first experiment on ion and X-ray generation from laser-produced plasma that has been already performed at the HPLL