Influence of the illumination characteristics on the laser plasma dynamics in a strong axial magnetic field

The paper presents results of investigations and the analysis of the behavior of a laser produced plasma in a strong axial magnetic field of the induction 10T. The studied plasma was generated by means of a Nd laser of the energy 5 J and a pulse duration of about 1 ns. Three frame laser interferometry was used for determining the dynamic and electron density distributions of the expanding plasma. An analysis of the interferometric measurement results allowed us to distinguish two characteristic regimes of the plasma expansion: angular and axial. Using 2D MHD computer simulation it was found that these regimes are connected with the character of the target illumination, namely the laser beam spatial intensity distribution in the focal area.