Bright picosecond x‐rays from intense sub‐picosecond laser‐plasma interactions
- Maksimchuk, Anatoly
- Workman, J.
- Liu, X.
- Ellenberger, U.
- Coe, S.
- Chien, C.‐Y.
- Umstadter, Donald P.
DOIAbstract
Short‐pulse, high‐intensity laser‐plasma interactions are investigated experimentally with temporally and spectrally resolved soft x‐ray diagnostics. The emitted x‐ray spectra from solid targets of various Z are characterized for a range of laser intensities (I<5×1017 W/cm2) and pulse widths (η∼400 fs). With low contrast (105), the x‐ray spectrum in the λ=40–100 Å spectral region is dominated by line emission, and the x‐ray pulse duration is found to be long, τx≳100 ps, characteristic of a long‐scale‐length, low‐density plasma. Bright, picosecond, continuum emission, characteristic of a short‐scalelength, high‐density plasma, is produced only when a high laser contrast (1010) is used. It is demonstrated experimentally that the pulsewidth of...
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