Study of plasma produced from deuterized-titanium irradiated by intense laser pulses.

The paper reports on experimental studies of plasma generated by the irradiation of pure titanium (Ti) and deuterium-saturated (Ti+D 2) targets with intense laser beams from a Nd:YAG system operated at 1063 nm (0.5 J) or at 355 nm (0.1 J). The FWHM of laser pulses was 3 ns and the laser power density on the target surface amounted to (0.7- 3)×1010 W/cm2. Spectroscopic studies of plasma plumes were performed with a Mechelle®900 spectrometer in the wavelength range of 300-1100 nm, at a variable exposition time. The recorded spectra showed numerous lines originating from different Ti-ions and D+ desorbed from the (Ti+D 2) target. Estimates of electron temperatures during the plasma expansion gave Te=1.4-2 eV for 0.1 J pulses and 2.3-3 eV for 0.5 J ones. In the Ti+D 2 experiment, the electron density, as estimated from the Dα line, was Ne=(1.8- 4.6)×1016 cm-3 and (1.9- 2.1)×1017 cm-3 for 0.1 and 0.5 J pulses, respectively. For the given Te, it was estimated that the Ti-I component density was about one order lower. The emission of D+ and various Ti-ions (ranging from Ti+ to Ti+14) was confirmed by corpuscular measurements, which gave higher values of energy 〈 ETi〉=420-1200 eV and electron temperature Te=12-34 eV for the initial hot-plasma phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]