Compression Measurements of Neon-Seeded Glass Microballoons Irradiated by CO2-Laser Light

Compression of DT-neon-seeded, glass microballoons has been observed in C${\mathrm{O}}_2$-laser experiments at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. DT densities of the order of 20% of liquid density have been attained. Detailed comparisons of the neon densities determined from the measured neon source size and from the fit of observed spectra by Stark-broadening calculations have been made. The excellent agreement obtained with these methods indicates that the extrapolation of the microfield effects used in Stark-broadening calculations to high densities is reasonable.