Nonstationary laser-supported ionization wave in layer of porous substance with subcritical densityOA

A time-dependent analytical solution is found for the velocity of a plane ionization wave generated under nanosecond laser pulse action on the surface of a flat layer of low-Z porous substance with density less than the critical density of the produced plasma.With corrections for the two-dimensional nature of the problem when a laser beam of finite radius interacts with a flat target,this solution is in quantitative agreement with measurements of ionization wave velocity in various experiments.The solution compared with experimental data covering wide ranges of performance conditions,namely,(3-8)×10^(14)W cm^(−2)for laser pulse intensity,0.3-3 ns for pulse duration,0.35-0.53μm for laser wavelength,100-1000μm for laser beam radius,380-950μm for layer thickness,4.5-12 mg cm^(−3)for average density of porous substance,and 1-25μm for average pore size.The parameters of the laser beam that ensure the generation of a plane ionization wave in a layer of subcritical porous matter are determined for the problem statements and are found to meet the requirements of practical applications.