Figure 2
(a) Experimental setup; (b) two-dimensional (in cylindrical geometry) hydrodynamic simulation of the plasma density profile resulting from the irradiation of a Al 0.8 µm thick target by the amplified spontaneous amplification (ASE) of the short-pulse laser, just prior to the main peak of the laser. Shown is a density lineout along the plasma expansion axis with various fits: (in green) by exp(x/L) with L = 0.16 µm for the overdense part; (in red) by exp(x/L) with L = 1.1 µm for the dense part; and (in cyan) by exp(x/L) with L = 12 µm for the low-density part.
