Abstract

Early experimental work¹ and numerical studies² have examined the production of more than fifty harmonics (212 nm) of the CO₂ laser in laser matter interaction studies carried out at Los Alamos within the laser fusion program. Initially it was believed that pressure balance between hydrodynamic plasma expansion and radiation pressure was responsible for a substantial density jump near critical, leading to the limitation on the number of harmonics produced.² While still believed to be important, more recent CO₂ laser studies³ have revealed that early-time hydrodynamics when combined with the laser skin depth can play a very significant role in the producton of high harmonics for CO₂ laser matter interaction experiments conducted at high irradiances.

© 1982 Optical Society of America