Development of high power laser platforms to study metal ejecta interactions

Abstract

Understanding ejecta interactions is broadly relevant to understanding debris shielding and materials physics. The literature contains many examples of experiments that examine ejecta generation from high explosive and gas gun sources, but there exist very few examples of laser-driven experiments. To that end, we present initial measurements from experiments on the OMEGA and OMEGA-EP laser facilities that seek to develop platforms to characterize mass-velocity distributions of laser driven ejecta, with the end goal of using high power lasers to study ejecta-ejecta and ejecta-substrate interactions. These initial experiments demonstrate the ability of laser experiments to contribute to the understanding of ejecta and will allow us to extend the platforms to study ejecta interactions.