title: Gas lens laser produced plasma.
abstract: A gas lens is used to focus a megawatt ruby laser beam on to a target to create a plasma. By using focal plane photographs and Faraday cup plasma diagnostics, the focusing ability of a gas lens is compared with an equivalent glass lens. In this experiment the gas lens compares favorably when the laser beam has a divergence of ~1 mrad.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Notcutt
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Waltham
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Michaelis
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Cazalet