Observation Of Expansion Velocity Of Laser Plasmas Using A Streak Camera

Author:  Heya, Matsumoto, Takeshita, Okihara, Yamanaka
Source:  Conf Proc: ICSP-10 Tokyo, Japan 2008
Doc ID:  2008106
Year of Publication:  2008
Abstract:  
ABSTRACT In a conventional laser shock peening (LSP), it was previously reported that an interaction efficiency from laser pulse energy to pulse pressure energy was relatively lower and was experimentally estimated to be ~20%. The purpose of this study was to establish the time-resolved observation of laser plasmas using a streak camera in order to optimize the laser conditions for an efficient LSP. We preliminarily observed the dynamics of laser plasmas using a streak camera. We estimated the dependence of the expansion velocity of the laser plasmas on the laser pulse energy. We found that the expansion velocity became higher with an increase of the laser pulse energy even when the laser pulse width was constant. Higher velocity leads to the generation of higher pulse pressure. Thus, we confirmed the usefulness of the timeresolved measurement of the plasma expansion using a streak camera for the development of an efficient LSP system. KEY WORDS Efficient LSP, Expansion velocity, Laser plasmas, Pulse pressure, Streak camera