Laser ionization of lithium vapor

A promising method of efficiently producing a lithium plasma suitable for application to ion-beam fusion is based on laser saturation of the lithium resonance transition at 670.8 nm. We have developed a numerical model of this process, including a space- and timedependent description of laser absorption and collisional-kinetic processes. The time dependence of the ionization process and the time dependence of the fluorescence from the 2S and 2D have been measured in a column of Li vapor. Measurements have been made at Li densities up to 1016/cm3 and laser intensities up to 108 W/cm2. The results of these measurements are compared with model predictions