RALEF-2D for Modeling Laser-Produced Plasma: Investigating Anisotropy in Plasma Expansion for Varying Laser Intensities

In this work, the RALEF-2D code is used to simulate tin laser-produced plasma
expansion into vacuum using a single-fluid, single-temperature approach. A 27
µm tin droplet is irradiated by a Nd:YAG (λ = 1.064 µm) laser with laser
energies varying between 5 − 100 mJ. We study the movement in which the
plasma expands and the changes for different laser energies. The results from
the simulations are compared with previously obtained experimental results.
Doing simulations can provide a better understanding of the changes that show
in the ion energy distributions – when varying laser energy – in the experimental
results. Thus, understand the LPP expansion better. Simulations are compared
with experiments and are in good agreement. We find that the high-energy
peak in the ion energy distributions is reproduced in the simulations. We find
a power-law relation between the peak position and the laser intensity, that
matches experiments and is related to theory. This gives the promising result
that RALEF shows predictive powers to LPP expansion.