Lateral Ablation-Pressure Distribution in a 1.053-μm-Laser-Irradiated Pellet

The first experimental observation of ablation-pressure distribution on spherical targets was made at several focusing conditions by flash x-ray radiography. The results indicate that lateral smoothing of the ablation pressure is dominated by the magnetic field generation due to hot-electron streams and/or local-heating-induced $\nabla n\times \nabla T$ at an intensity near ${10}^{15}$ W/${\mathrm{cm}}^2$ from a 1.053-μm laser.