Numerical analysis of experiments on the generation of shock waves in aluminium under indirect (X-ray) action on the Iskra-5 facility

The dynamics of laser and X-ray radiation fields in experiments with cylindrical converter boxes (illuminators), which had earlier been carried out on the Iskra-5 laser facility (the second harmonic of iodine laser radiation, λ = 0.66 μm) was investigated in a sector approximation using the SND-LIRA numerical technique. In these experiments, the X-ray radiation temperature in the box was determined by measuring the velocity of the shock wave generated in the sample under investigation, which was located at the end of the cylindrical illuminator. Through simulations were made using the SND-LIRA code, which took into account the absorption of laser driver radiation at the box walls, the production of quasithermal radiation, as well as the formation and propagation of the shock wave in the sample under investigation. An analysis of the experiments permits determining the electron thermal flux limiter f: for f = 0.03 it is possible to match the experimental scaling data for X-ray in-box radiation temperature to the data of our simulations. The shock velocities obtained from the simulations are also consistent with experimental data. In particular, in the experiment with six laser beams (and a laser energy E_L = 1380 J introduced into the box) the velocity of the shock front (determined from the position of a laser mark) after passage through a 50-μm thick base aluminium layer was equal to 35±1.6 km s^-1, and in simulations to 36 km s^-1. In the experiment with four laser beams (for E_L = 850 J) the shock velocity (measured from the difference of transit times through the base aluminium layer and an additional thin aluminium platelet) was equal to 30±3.6 km s^-1, and in simulations to 30 km s^-1.