Anomalous burn-through of thin foils by high-intensity laser radiation

The paper presents results of experiments performed on the Pico facility in which foils were heated by laser radiation, and anomalously fast burn-through of foils by a structured laser beam was detected. Comparison with two-dimensional calculations has allowed us to suggest a tentative mechanism for the effect under investigation. The targets in the experiments were thin aluminum foils of thickness 3 to 40 μm. The flux density of laser radiation on the target surface varied between 1013 and 1014 W/cm2. We detected a strong dependence of the transmitted energy on the foil thickness and the shortening of the transmitted laser pulse. Penetration of laser radiation through foils with thicknesses considerably larger than 3 μm has been observed, although it was stated in earlier publications [V. V. Ivanov, A. K. Knyazev, A. V. Kutsenko, et al., Kratk. Soobshch. Fiz. FIAN No. 7–8, 37 (1997)]; A. E. Bugrov, I. N. Burdonskii, V. V. Gol’tsov et al., Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 903 (1997) [JETP 84, 903 (1997)] that, at the laser radiation parameters used in our experiment, the evaporated layer of the foil could not be thicker than 2 μm. Two-dimensional calculations have allowed us to interpret this effect in terms of local “piercing” of the target at spots on the target surface where the radiation intensity has its peaks. The possibility of reducing these peaks by using a symmetrizing prepulse is discussed in the paper.