Modeling of a plasma mirror: laser ablation of material and the optical effects of ionized fluids

Plasma mirrors are an excellent application of material ablation and the optical effects of fluids. These optical elements are used in ultra-fast / high energy Peta-Watt laser systems. Most systems of this nature consist of a pilot beam and an on-target beam. The plasma mirror is a bit of a misnomer as it is typically a piece of fused silica, the lower energy pilot beam passes through the glass following one optical path to a detector. The high energy beam vaporizes the top layer of the glass creating a plasma, this plasma is highly reflective to the beam thereby sending the high energy beam along a second optical path to the target chamber. Modeling requires an understanding of the optical properties of the beam, the material properties of the optical element, the fluid properties of vaporization and then ionization of a material, the movement of the newly formed plasma and the optical effects the newly formed state of matter have on the beam. This research seeks to accurately model these effects with a multi-physics simulation.