On hydrodynamic energy transfer between two foils of a laser irradiated double-foil target at 0.35 μm wavelength

Abstract The hydrodynamic behavior of double-foil targets irradiated with 0.35 μm laser wavelength at irradiance of 2×10 14 W cm -2 has been investigated by means of time and space resolved X-ray backlighting. Comparison with a 1-D lagrangian code shows discrepancies attributed to energy losses in the transfer between two foils. First results obtained with a 2-D code are presented for a single thin target. We infer that the hydrodynamic lateral expansion of the accelerated layer is the dominant process of energy loss.