The authors conclude that the new PTW 60019 microDiamond detector is generally suitable for relative dosimetry in small 6 MV SRS beams for a Novalis Trilogy linear equipped with circular cones.

The AWE HELEN laser is being used to measure high-pressure Hugoniot data by the impedance match method. Indirect drive is used to generate pressures of up to 10 Mbar in the aluminum reference material. We are aiming to measure shock velocities in our targets to ± 1 %, leading to errors in pressure and particle velocity of the order of ±2%. This requires improvements in target fabrication and characterization, streak camera calibration and data analysis, coupled with investigations into shock planarity and attenuation. Our latest results have accuracies of 2–4% in shock velocity but have identified work that should allow us to achieve our intended level of accuracy. Experiments have been done with copper and chlorinated plastic; our results are compared with theory, and, for copper, with U.S. and Russian gas-gun, explosively or nuclear-driven experiments.

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The shock pressures generated in the interaction of lasers and light ion beams with thin foils are compared using a one-dimensional hydrodynamic computer code. Using the next generation of proton beam machines at powers of approximately 100 TW, pressure of 25 Mb may be attainable. Similar pressures can be generated with the 1 TW Nd-glass lasers that are currently operating. Much higher pressures should be obtained using lasers at high intensities but the large numbers of high-energy electrons produced in the interaction preheat the target foil making interpretation of experiments difficult. By converting the laser system to the third harmonic (0.35 mu m) it should be possible to achieve pressures in excess of 50 Mb in a preheat-free environment.

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