“…Ablative models are the familiar representations of laser-produced plasmas. The self-regulating model of Afanasev et al (1966) and Caruso, Bertotti & Giupponi (1966) has been progressively developed by Nemchinov (1967), Caruso & Gratton (1968), Puell (1970) and Pert (19866) to give an accurate representation when inverse bremsstrahlung absorption is dominant and thermal conduction negligible. On the other hand, the deflagration model of Fauquignon & Floux (1970), formalized by Bobin (1971), Gitomer, Morse & Newberger (1977, Max, McKee & Mead (1980) and Pert (1988), describes the behaviour when absorption is at the critical density and thermal conduction significant.…”