TEMPERATURE IN LASER-CREATED DEUTERIUM PLASMAS

The beam of a powerful neodymium glass laser is focused into a solid deuterium stick. The temperature of the created plasma is measured by Jahoda's x-ray absorption method. The electron temperature has been found to range up to 450 ev and exhibits a 2/3-power dependence on the power flux density. These results are in agreement with a theoretical model involving a strong shock and a deflagration front propagating inwards the D//2 ice whereas the plasma expands in the vacuum toward the incoming beam.