We report continuous measurements of the sound velocity along the principal Hugoniot curve of α quartz between 0.25 and 1.45 TPa, as determined from lateral release waves intersecting the shock front as a function of time in decaying-shock experiments. The measured sound velocities are lower than predicted by prior models, based on the properties of stishovite at densities below ∼7  g/cm^{3}, but agree with density functional theory molecular dynamics calculations and an empirical wide-regime equation of state presented here. The Grüneisen parameter calculated from the sound velocity decreases from γ∼1.3 at 0.25 TPa to 0.66 at 1.45 TPa. In combination with evidence for increased (configurational) specific heat and decreased bulk modulus, the values of γ suggest a high thermal expansion coefficient at ∼0.25-0.65  TPa, where SiO_{2} is thought to be a bonded liquid. From our measurements, dissociation of the molecular bonds persists to ∼0.65-1.0  TPa, consistent with estimates by other methods. At higher densities, the sound velocity is close to predictions from previous models, and the Grüneisen parameter approaches the ideal gas value.

Powerful lasers interacting with solid targets can generate intense electromagnetic pulses (EMPs). In this study, EMPs produced by a pulsed laser (1 ps, 100 J) shooting at CH targets doped with different titanium (Ti) contents at the XG-III laser facility are measured and analyzed. The results demonstrate that the intensity of EMPs first increases with Ti doping content from 1% to 7% and then decreases. The electron spectra show that EMP emission is closely related to the hot electrons ejected from the target surface, which is confirmed by an analysis based on the target–holder–ground equivalent antenna model. The conclusions of this study provide a new approach to achieve tunable EMP radiation by adjusting the metal content of solid targets, and will also help in understanding the mechanism of EMP generation and ejection of hot electrons during laser coupling with targets.

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A recent experiment on the Shenguang III laser facility has applied open-end gold hohlraums with two gas pressures to study the movement of a plasma bubble. Under a laser intensity and width close to those of an ignition main pulse, the bubbles possess radial scales from several hundred to one thousand micrometers. An x-ray framing camera is used to measure the N-band x-ray images generated from the gold bubble plasma at different moments, from which the edge positions of the expanding bubbles are accurately acquired. The experimental results are simulated by an optimized two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic code. Based on the classical average atom (AA) model, two phenomenological coefficients Cer and Cop are introduced into the code to correct the bubble evolution. Cer artificially redistributes the energies between radiation and matter, and Cop correlatively adjusts the plasma opacity. The bubble movement simulated by the novel phenomenological model agrees better with the measured result than that by the AA model. This work plays a critical role in our code improvements and advances the reliability of the hohlraum design.

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