Production of a hot dense plasma in the pinching of a laser burst at the diode of a high-current accelerator

A pinch effect has been observed in a laser burst (a low-entropy burst in the initial stage of compression of the object) in the diode of the comparatively small DON accelerator/sup 3/ (20 GW, 200 kV, 100 kA. The beam from a neodymium laser (5 J, 30 ns) was focused through an orifice in the anode onto the plane surface of an aluminum cathode target. The torch-shaped expansion of the plasma from the focal point produces a plasma channel in the diode. The laser plasma expands at approx.10/sup 7/ cm/s, and teh diode is filled with a plasma of density n/sub e/ = 10/sup 15/-10/sup 16/ cm/sup -3/ by the time at which the current pulse begins. (AIP)