Impulse coupling enhancement of aluminum targets under laser irradiation in a soft polymer confined geometry

Laser pulses were applied to a target mounted on a ballistic pendulum to study the momentum imparted by a laser shock impact. Photonic Doppler Velocimetry was used to assess the momentum imparted by each laser pulse. To increase the momentum produced, a layer of polymer transparent to the laser wavelength was applied to the surface of the targets to confine the plasma generated as a result of the laser–matter interaction. This yielded momentum coupling coefficients one hundred times higher than those obtained for equivalent laser parameters in the classical direct regime configuration. The study was completed by simulating the experiments with the one-dimensional Lagrangian hydrodynamics code ESTHER, which showed good agreement with the experimental results.