Numerical study of an X-ray-driven carbon foil

Abstract

The radiation hydrodynamics of a 125-μm thin carbon layer illuminated by thermal radiation of Trad = 200 eV temperature is studied within a multigroup radiation model. Whereas a major part of the incident photons deposit their energy by K-shell absorption close to the surface, soft photons below the K edge and hard photons (hv > 800 eV) penetrate deeper into the material and drive a heat wave with a sharp front. A nonablated mass fraction of 20% is accelerated with a hydrodynamic efficiency of 11%. About half of the incident radiation flux is reemitted by the heated carbon plasma. The heat front trajectory can be reproduced by the analytical heating wave model when effective opacity parameters corresponding to the most penetrating components are used.