Interaction of heavy ions with laser produced plasmas

Summary form only given, as follows. The interaction processes of heavy ions and ionized matter have been investigated extensivly during the last years. The plasma-physics-group at GSI-Darmstadt has contributed to this research in several fields. At low ion energies (E=45 keV/u) it was possible to create a heavy-ion heated plasmas with a high current radio-frequency-quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator. The interaction of this low energy beam with external generated hydrogen plasmas (ne=10/sup 17/ cm/sup -3/) showed an increased stopping by a factor of 35 in the plasma compared to a cold gas. In the medium energy range (1.5 MeV/u100 MeV/u) the first hydrodynamic motion of heavy ion heated rare gas crystals has been observed recently. The aquisition of a high power Nd:Glass laser (E/spl sim/100 J, t=20 ns) makes it now possible to extend the density range of the externally generated plasmas far beyond ne=10/sup 19/ cm/sup -3/. An overview of the recent experiments will be given and the impact of laser-produced plasmas in the framework of the program investigating the interaction of heavy ions with ionized matter will be discussed.