Dynamic imaging and hydrodynamics study of high velocity, laser-accelerated thin foil targets using multiframe optical shadowgraphy

The main aim of the study of thin target foil–laser interaction experiments is to understand the physics of hydrodynamics of the foil acceleration, which is highly relevant to inertial confinement fusion (ICF). This paper discusses a simple, inexpensive multiframe optical shadowgraphy diagnostics developed for dynamic imaging of high velocity laser-accelerated target foils of different thicknesses. The diagnostic has a spatial and temporal resolution of 12 μm and 500 ps respectively in the measurements. The target velocity is in the range of 106–107 cm/s. Hydrodynamic efficiency of such targets was measured by energy balance experiments together with the measurement of kinetic energy of the laser-driven targets. Effect of target foil thickness on the hydrodynamics of aluminum foils was studied for determining the optimum conditions for obtaining a directed kinetic energy transfer of the accelerated foil. The diagnostics has also been successfully used to study ablatively accelerated targets of other novel materials.