Zheng Zhiyuan

The characteristics of confined ablation in laser propulsion

Compared with direct ablation, confined ablation provides an effective way to obtain a large target momentum and a high coupling coefficient. By using a transparent glass layer to cover the target surface, the coupling coefficient is enhanced by an order of magnitude. With the increase of the gap width between the target surface and the cover layer, the coupling coefficient exponentially decreases. It is found that the coupling coefficient is also related to the thickness of the cover layer.

Effects of Confined Laser Ablation on Laser Plasma Propulsion

We investigate the effects of confined laser ablation on laser plasma propulsion. Compared with planar ablation, the cavity ablation provides an effective way to obtain a large target momentum and a high coupling coefficient. When laser pulses are focused into a cavity with 1 mm diameter and 2 mm depth, a high coupling coefficient is obtained. By using a glass layer to cover the cavity, the coupling coefficient is enhanced by 10 times. Meanwhile, it is found that with the increase of the target surface size, the target momentum presents a linear increase.

The Effect of Viscosity of Liquid Propellant on Laser Plasma Propulsion

The effect of viscosity on the coupling coefficient and specific impulse is investigated with water and glycerol as propellants in laser plasma propulsion. It is found that the propulsion is much more correlated with the liquid viscosity. For water in particular, the coupling coefficient and specific impulse presents nearly a linear relationship with the viscosity. The weak dependence of the coupling coefficient on the laser energy at a high viscosity is observed. These results indicate that a liquid propellant with suitable viscosity can be used in laser plasma thruster.

Generation of surface electrons in femtosecond laser-solid interactions

The characteristics of hot electrons produced by p-polarized femtosecond laser-solid interactions are studied. The experimental results show that the outgoing electrons are mainly emitted in three directions: along the target surface, the normal direction and the laser backward direction. The electrons flowing along the target surface are due to the confinement of the electrostatic field and the surface magnetic field, while the electrons in the normal direction due to the resonant absorption.

Acoustic Diagnostics of Plasma Channels Induced by Intense Femtosecond Laser Pulses in Air

Long plasma channels induced by femtosecond laser pulses in air are diagnosed using the sonographic method. By detecting the sound signals along the channels, the length and the electron density of the channels are measured. Refocusing is also observed at different laser energies and different focal lengths. We find that the sonographic method has manifest advantages compared to other techniques.

High Coupling Efficiency Generation in Water Confined Laser Plasma Propulsion

High coupling efficiency generation in water confined laser plasma propulsion is investigated. It is found that the coupling efficiency is enhanced over thirty times in water confined ablation compared to that of direct ablation. From calculation of the ablation pressure induced by the plasma on the target surface, it is realized that high coupling efficiency is attributed to the confinement of the water layer on the plasma expansion.

Double Jet Emission of Hot Electrons from a Micro-droplet Spray

Spatial distribution of hot electrons with energies above 50 keV are investigated by an ethanol micro-droplet spray irradiated by linearly and elliptically polarized 150 fs laser pulses at an intensity of 1016W/cm2. Two symmetric hot electron jets with respect to the laser propagation direction are observed in the polarization plane for a linearly polarized laser field and in the plane of the long electric vector for an elliptically polarized laser field, respectively. Particle-in-cell simulations suggest that the resonance absorption on the spherical surface of the droplets is mainly responsible for the generation of the double-jet emission of hot electrons.

Influence of Surface Radius Curvature on Laser Plasma Propulsion with Ablation Water Propellant

The surface shape of liquid water is well controlled during nanosecond pulse laser ablation plasma propulsion. In this study, we measured the effect of the shape on the coupling coefficient and the specific impulse. We found that the coupling coefficient and specific impulse could be optimized by varying the surface convexity. Based on the analysis of the surface radius curvature, we demonstrate that the convex surface changes the laser focal positions to achieve high efficiency.

Evolution of shock waves formed by laser-induced breakdown in air

The evolution of shock waves produced by 7 ns laser pulses in air is investigated by time-resolved shadowgraph. A nodular structure of the shock wave is observed. It is found that the origin of the structure is the multi-longitudinal-microfocus caused by the astigmatism of the laser beam. The spherical shock waves formed by each microfocus expand gradually and collide with each other, resulting in the nodular structure of the shock wave.

Experimental Investigation of Glass-Layer Confined Ablation in Laser Plasma Propulsion

Laser plasma propulsion in glass-layer confined ablation was experimentally investigated. The results showed that compared to that of direct ablation, the coupling coefficient was enhanced over ten times. By observing the plasma expansion and calculating the ablation pressure, it was found that a higher ablation pressure and larger glass mass resulted in a higher coupling coefficient in the confined laser ablation.