[FLASH-USERS] Model resonant laser absorption at critical density

[Wegert, Leonard]

Hi FLASH users!

I'm trying to model the interaction of a very short laser pulse (100 fs, 1e16 W/cm^2) with a solid Titanium target. As expected, the target's sharp edge reflects nearly all of the laser's energy and nothing happens. 
Does anyone have experiences on how to model the interaction of short laser pulses with solid targets in FLASH? (Properly model the laser prepulse, introduce a thin area of lower density, play around with the minimum ionization level?)
Codes like MULTI-fs try to implement resonant absorption by introducing a parameter, that specifies the fraction of energy that is absorbed at the critical density (instead of reflecting everything). Are there ambitions to introduce a similar parameter for FLASH (Or is there already one and I just didn't find it?)?

I'm looking forward to hear from your experiences.

Cheers,

Leonard Wegert
GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH
Plasma Physics Department
l.wegert at gsi.de