Numerical Study on Laser-driven In-Tube Accelerator (LITA) Performance using a Plasma Size Modeling

Laser Propulsion is a device that generates thrust using laser energy. Laser-driven In-Tube Accelerator (LITA) has been developed at Tohoku University. LITA is a laser propulsion system that accelerates an object not in an open air but in a tube. Experiments of vertical launching and pressure measurement on the tube wall were carried out and in order to observe the initial state of plasma and blast wave, the visualization experiment was carried out using the shadowgraph method. In this study, the time variation of pressure on the tube wall is numerically simulated solving Euler equation. In order to model the laser energy, heat source function added to the frozen flow Euler equation. Plasma size from the shadowgraph images was used for the initial condition of laser energy input. For verification of the modeling, these results were compared with the previous experimental and numerical results. From these verifications, an analysis of LITA performance will be investigated.