Evaluation of ablation plasma characteristics of intense, pulsed, ion-beam evaporation

Basic characteristics of an ablation plasma produced by an intense, pulsed, ion beam have been evaluated from the measurement of ion-flux density by a biased ion collector. The target mass loss is detected by the measurement of the weight of the target in the comparison before and after the shot. A one-dimensional hydrodynamic model is introduced with the assumption of a high-power, light-ion beam-driven expansion and the following adiabatic expansion into vacuum. With this model, it is possible for us to deduce the temperature and the pressure from the data of the ion flux and the mass loss of the target, respectively. This method is also applicable to other intense pulsed energy sources such as lasers or electron beams. (author)