Hydrodynamics and K-shell radiation emission of laser compressed Ar-filled glass microballoons

The authors have developed a model that considers and computes self-consistently the effects of hydrodynamics, atomic physics and radiation emission during the compression of Ar-filled glass microballoons irradiated by high-powered laser pulses. They use it to study a series of experiments done at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics. In some of the cases significant radiation cooling effects induce further compression after the shock wave collapse. Considerations of the timing of the He- and H-like Ar-line emission relative to the hydrodynamic evolution is useful in the interpretation of some spectroscopic density diagnostics performed on these experiments. They suggest that plasma effects such as field-induced ionisation due to the plasma electric microfields may be responsible for some inconsistencies found in the electron densities inferred from Stark-broadening analysis of the Lyman series.