Subpicosecond Thomson Scattering Measurements of Optically Ionized Helium Plasmas

Authors

T. E. Glover, University of California - Berkeley
Thomas D. Donnelly, Harvey Mudd CollegeFollow
E. A. Lipman, University of California - Berkeley
A. Sullivan, University of California - Berkeley
R. W. Falcone, University of California - Berkeley

Document Type

Article

Department

Physics (HMC)

Publication Date

7-1994

Abstract

We present the first subpicosecond time-resolved temperature measurements of plasmas produced by high-intensity optical ionization. Thomson scattering is used to measure electron and ion temperatures of helium plasmas created by 125 fs, 800 nm laser pulses focused to an intensity of 2 × 10¹⁷ W/cm². We find that the electron temperature is accurately predicted by a tunneling ionization model. The measured ion temperature is consistent with direct heating by the laser pulse.

Comments

This article is also available from the American Physical Society at http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.78.

Rights Information

© 1994 American Physical Society

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.78

Recommended Citation

T.E. Glover, T.D. Donnelly, E.A. Lipman, A. Sullivan, R.W. Falcone, "Subpicosecond Thomson Scattering Measurements of Optically Ionized Helium Plasmas," Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 78 (1994). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.78