In this study, we present a novel method for fabricating semi-transparent electrodes by combining silver nanowires (AgNW) with titanium nitride (TiN) layers, resulting in conductive nanocomposite coatings with exceptional electromechanical properties. These nanocomposites were deposited on cellulose nanopaper (CNP) using a plasma-enhanced pulsed laser deposition (PE-PLD) technique at low temperatures (below 200 °C). Repetitive bending tests demonstrate that incorporating AgNW into TiN coatings significantly enhances the microstructure, increasing the electrode’s electromechanical robustness by up to four orders of magnitude compared to commercial PET/ITO substrates. Furthermore, the optical and electrical conductivities can be optimized by adjusting the AgNW network density and TiN synthesis temperature. Our results also indicate that the nanocomposite electrodes exhibit improved stability in air and superior adhesion compared to bare AgNW coatings.

In this study, we present a novel method for fabricating semi-transparent electrodes by combining silver nanowires (AgNW) with titanium nitride (TiN) layers, resulting in conductive nano-composite coatings with exceptional electro-mechanical properties. These nano-composites were deposited on cellulose nanopaper (CNP) using a plasma-enhanced pulsed laser deposition (PE-PLD) technique at low temperatures (below 200°C). Repetitive bending tests demonstrate that incorporating AgNW into TiN coatings significantly enhances the microstructure, increasing the electrodes electro-mechanical robustness by up to four orders of magnitude compared to commercial PET/ITO substrates. Furthermore, the optical and electrical conductivities can be optimized by adjusting the AgNW network density and TiN synthesis temperature. Our results also indicate that the nanocomposite electrodes exhibit improved stability in air and superior adhesion compared to bare AgNW coatings. These findings are crucial for advancing bio-compatible flexible electronics and could lead to the development of new wearable and implantable medical devices.

Preionization is believed to play an important role on the implosion of gas-puff Z pinches. Some experiments have used an external preionization source, e.g., UV light or electron beam. In contrast, other experiments rely completely on over voltage breakdown by the own generator's voltage pulse. However, this approach lacks shot-to-shot reproducibility since self-breakdown is mainly a stochastic process. In this work, we performed a systematic study on self-breakdown using two different cathode geometries: (i) a smooth, round cathode to provide a homogeneous electric field, (ii) a sharp, knife-edge-like geometry to enhance the electric field locally and eventually electron emission. The experiments were carried out on the Llampudken current generator, which provides a current pulse of $\sim 400\text{kA}$ amplitude and 200 ns rise time ($10\%\text{−}90\%$). We implemented gated XUV imaging, filtered diodes and time-integrated x-ray imaging to obtain information about the implosion as well as the stagnation phase for the two cathode geometries. We found that erosion of the knife-edge cathode might be a serious problem, and we had to replace it every 15 shots. On the other hand, the round cathode lasted for the whole series of experiments. We also measured a more reproducible and larger peak current for the knife cathode. From the photo-conductive detectors we observed that even if the round cathode might present shots with higher x-ray yield compared to the knife cathode, dispersion is almost twice as large. Moreover, after a statistic analysis, it is demonstrated that the dispersion in the yield is due solely to differences imposed by the cathodes and not to variations in the driver, as no correlation was found between them. We found that in order to fit the experimental data with the snowplow model, only $\sim 60\%$ of the total mass is compressed in the knife cathode while $\sim 20\%$ for the round one, highlighting the importance of the cathode and preionization. Therefore, we conclude that the use of the knife cathode increases the reproducibility of the experiment in comparison with the round cathode.

Experimental studies of the dynamics and properties of laser produced plasmas in different initial configurations, using a Titanium target and a Nitrogen background, are presented. First, an annular plasma, produced by focusing a 5 ns laser beam using a combination of axicon prism and convergent lens and expanding in neutral Nitrogen background, in the range 50-2000 mTorr, is characterized using 30 ps simultaneous Mach-Zehnder interferometry, shadowgraph and schlieren imaging. Second, a plasma plume, produced by point focusing of a 4.8 ns laser beam and expanding in 50-1000 mTorr Nitrogen background, either neutral or in a RF produced plasma, is characterized with 4 ns Mach-Zehnder interferometry. Detailed time resolved measurements of the plasma density, as a result of Abel inversion of the interferograms, with characteristic plasma densities ~5×10 15 -1×10 17 cm -3, , and plasma dynamics resulting from shadowgraph and schlieren imaging, will be presented and discussed.

Preionization is believed to play an important role on the implosion of gas-puff Z-pinches. Some experiments have used an external preionization source, e.g., UV light or electron beam. In contrast, other experiments rely completely on overvoltage breakdown by the own generator’s voltage pulse. But the problem with this approach is that it might not produce reliable results because self-breakdown is mainly a stochastic process. In order to study reproducibility, we performed systematic studies on self-breakdown using two different cathode geometries: i) a smooth, round cathode to provide a homogenous electric field ii) a sharp, knife-edge-like geometry to enhance the electric field locally and eventually electron emission. The experiments were carried out on the Llampudken current generator, which provides a current pulse of ~400kA amplitude and 200ns rise time (10%-90%). We implemented gated XUV imaging, laser probing, filtered diodes and time-integrated X-ray imaging to obtain information about the implosion as well as the stagnation phase for the two cathode geometries. Preliminary analysis shows that erosion of the knife-edge cathode may be a serious problem, and on the contrary, the round cathode may have far more reliable results. Data is currently analyzed and further details will be shown and discussed.

The production of an interacting region of plasmas using laser-produced plasma plumes and jet-like plasma outflows emitted by a conical wire array Z-pinch is experimentally studied. The jet-like outflow is produced by a conical wire array of 16 aluminum wires (40μm diameter each) acting as load of the Llampudken generator (~400kA, ~350ns). The laser plasma plume (LPP) is produced by focusing a 10 10 W/cm 2 laser pulse onto an aluminum target. The target for LPP is located above the anode, parallel to the axis where jet-like plasma outflow propagates. To avoid direct exposure of the target from any emission aside from the jet-like plasma, a thick metallic lid is used as blockage for the array load. The primary diagnostic is laser interferometry aligned with the target surface. Our experimental results show that in the absence of LPP, there is no significant propagation nor interaction of the photoionized ablated target surface with the jet-like plasma. On the contrary, when combining both plasma sources, a new structure appears in the region where both plasmas interact. The thickness of this structure agrees with ion-ion mean free path calculations suggesting the presence of a shock layer created after the interaction. Further details and potential applications will be shown and discussed.