Hypervelocity impacts (HVI) are an important issue for various aerospace, geophysical or large laser facility protection applications such as the Laser Megajoule. In these applications, impact speeds can range from a few km/s to tens of km/s. Below 10 km/s, gas or powder guns can be used to launch projectiles at representative speeds. For higher velocities (10 to 50 km/s), the use of laser-generated shocks is an interesting alternative.
However, the analogy between HVI and laser shocks relies on a good modeling of the laser-matter interaction mechanisms, and in particular of the 2D effects that affect the pressure field at the target surface.
The objective of this postdoctoral fellowship is to study the laser-matter interaction with numerical tools developed at the CEA, in particular the 1D code Esther and the 2D/3D code Troll. The simulations will be validated by comparison with experimental data and will then be used to conduct parametric studies on the spatial and temporal profiles of the laser beam.