Geometric effects on EUV emissions in spherical and planar targets

We explored the radiation hydrodynamics of tin microsphere targets exposed to 1-μm, 8-ns laser pulses, and compared them with thick planar targets. Previous research [1] has shown that the conversion efficiency of laser light to in-band emissions around 13.5 nm is lower in microsphere targets. Our work was designed to elucidate the reasons for this drop in emission. Differences in plasma expansion, laser absorption and atomic emissions were measured in the UCSD Laser Plasma Laboratory and modeled using the 2D radiation hydrodynamic code h2d. Experimental data are compared with modeling and differences between emissions in planar and spherical targets explained.