Motion of solid D2 under laser irradiation

A model is derived for the behavior of both the solid and plasma of a deuterium slab under moderate intensity, 1 to 100 nsec duration laser pulses. It assumes that inverse bremsstrahlung throughout an isothermally expanding plasma completely absorbs the laser radiation, and that electron conduction into the dense phase can be neglected. Numerical studies show the electron-to-ion temperature ratio in the plasma depends only on laser intensity, allowing a simple two-temperature model. A shock wave propagates through the solid and then it is uniformly accelerated. The efficiency of transfer of laser energy to kinetic energy in the solid is shown to be small and wavelength dependent during the shock phase, but can be up to 28% in the acceleration phase.