| Summary: | The first experimental study of the propagation of electrons created by an intense laser in shock-compressed matter has been performed with the VULCAN laser facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, to investigate one of the fundamental phases of the fast ignitor concept for inertial confinement fusion. Plastic plane targets were irradiated on one side with two pulsed laser beams, each with I ≈ 1014 W/cm2, t ≈ 2 ns, E ≈ 80 J per pulse, to generate a planar shock wave; on the opposite side of the target, a chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser beam (I ≈ 1016W/cm2, t ≈ 3 ps, E ≈ 10 J) was focused to generate the fast electrons. The results show an increase of hot electron penetration in compressed matter with respect to an ordinary one. Experimental results have been analyzed with computer simulations.
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