Production of dense laser-driven plasma jets using a cylindrical channel

A simple method of production of supersonic plasma jets with parameters relevant to laboratory astrophysics applications is proposed and demonstrated. The method consists in using a cylindrical channel for guiding and collimating the plasma generated from a laser-irradiated thin foil target. In the experiment, a 120 J, 1.315 um, 0.3 ns laser pulse irradiated a thin (10 or 20 um) CH foil placed at the entrance of the cylindrical channel (made in the aluminum cylinder) of diameter dCh = 0.3 mm and length of 2 mm. It was found that when the focal spot diameter (dL) is well matched to the channel diameter (dL ≈ (2/3)dCh), the channel can form a collimated, high-density (up to 1020 cm3) plasma jet of the Mach number ≥10. The method seems to be flexible in the generation of jets of various hydrodynamic parameters and atomic numbers and does not require high-energy lasers for the jet production.