INFLUENCE OF THE ATOMIC MASS OF A
PLASMA-FORMING TARGET ON THE PARAMETERS
OF LASER-EMISSION DISCHARGE

V. V. Shkurko

UDC 621.378.9

A study has been made of the influence of the atomic mass 
of the material of a plasma-forming target on the characteristics 
of a laser-emission discharge developing under the action of Nd-laser 
radiation on the target. It has been shown that the atomic mass substantially 
affects the efficiency of conversion of the energy of laser radiation 
to the energy of a quasistationary electric current; the behavior 
of the dependences of the load power on the atomic mass of the target 
substance is different for high vacuum and for resonance pressure 
and it is not related to the regime of development of the discharge.

B. I. Stepanov Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences 
of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii 
Zhurnal, Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 102-104, January-February, 2003. 
Original article submitted July 4, 2002.