Ion Confinement in Pulsed Laser-Produced Plasmas

Abstract

The customary free expansion to the walls of ions in a pulsed, laser-produced plasma in vacuum has been shown to be inhibited significantly by the rapid injection of an intense electron current from the laser target. In this manner liter-volume, $n\sim {10}^{14}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{-3\mathrm{}}$, high-$Z$, highly ionized plasmas with mean ion lifetimes >100 μsec have been produced.