Measurement of Heat Propagation in a Laser Produced Plasma

We present the observation of a nonlocal heat wave by measuring spatially and temporally resolved electron temperature profiles in a laser produced nitrogen plasma. Absolutely calibrated measurements have been performed by resolving the ion-acoustic wave spectra across the plasma volume with Thomson scattering. We find that the experimental electron temperature profiles disagree with flux-limited models, but are consistent with transport models that account for the nonlocal effects in heat conduction by fast electrons