Development of a numerical tool for foil acceleration by an intense pulsed ion beam

When we irradiate a foil with an intense pulsed ion beam, ablation plasma is created, and the foil is accelerated. In this study, we developed a numerical model of this phenomenon. We analyze the temperature and pressure of the ablation plasma, and the velocity of the accelerated foil by numerical simulation. It was possible for us to analyze the behavior and detailed results of the ablation plasma expansion and acceleration of the foil. We could also observe the processes of ablation plasma expansion and foil acceleration by back-lighting high-speed photography. The numerical results of foil velocity agree well with the experimental ones over a wide range of energy density values of an ion beam. We analyzed the time trend of the foil velocity, and we could observe that the foil is rapidly accelerated immediately after a delay.