Abstract
Highly intense picosecond and subpicosecond laser pulses interacting with solids can create hot and dense plasmas which emit x-ray pulses in a broad spectral range from ≤100 eV up to MeV. The duration of these x-ray pulses depends on the transient behaviour of the relaxation and recombination mechanisms, as well as on the lifetime of energetic electrons produced via nonlinear processes in the plasma. This paper reports experiments using a 1.5-ps laser pulse with high constrast ratio (up to 1010) and intensities up to 1018 W cm-2 irradiating solid targets. Both the line spectrum characteristics of a magnesium plasma, recorded using crystal spectrometers with high spectral resolution, and kinetic calculations have allowed the deduction of plasma parameters in the process of plasma evolution. In addition, hard x-ray pulses from a tantalum plasma were measured and their scaling was explained as bremsstrahlung emission from energetic electrons. Absolute dose values of x-ray pulses are given.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
P.MAINE, D.STRICKLAND, P.BADO, M.PESSOT and G.MOUROU, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-24 (1988) 398.
F. G.PATTERSON, R.GONZALES and M. D.PERRY, Opt. Lett. 16 (1991) 1107.
C.SAUTERET, D.HUSSON, C.ROUYER et al., Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics 1991 (OSA, Washington, DC, 1991) p. 228.
K.YAMAKAWA, H.SHIRAGA and Y.KATO, Opt. Lett. 16 (1991) 1593.
G.MOUROU and D.UUMSTADTER, Phys. Fluids B 4(7) (1992) 2315.
F.BILLHARDT, M.KALACHNIKOV, P. V.NICKLES and I.WILL, Opt. Commun. 94 (1993) 99.
J. A.COBBLE, G. A.KYRALA, A. A.HAUER et al., Phys. Rev. A 39 (1989) 454.
M.CHAKER, H.PEPIN, V.BAREAU et al., J. Appl. Phys. 63 (1988) 892.
H.HORA, Physics of Laser Driven Plasmas (Wiley, New York, 1981); W. L. KRUER, The Physics of Laser Plasma Interaction (Addison-Wesley, New York, 1988); P. MULSER, Resonance absorption and ponderomotive action, Handbook of Plasmaphysics, vol. 3; Physics of Laser Plasma, edited by A. M. Rubenchik and S. Witkowski (Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 1991) p. 435.
X.LIU and D.UMSTADTER, Phys. Rev. Lett. 69(13) (1992) 1935.
J. A.COBBLE, G. T.SCHAPPERT, L. A.JONES, G. A.KYRALA and R. D.FULTON, J. Appl. Phys. 69 (1991) 3369.
M.KALACHNIKOV, P. V.NICKLES, Th.SCHLEGEL et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 73(2) (1994) 260.
F.BRUNEL, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59 (1987) 52.
J. D.KMETEC, C. L.GORDONIII, J. J.MACKLIN, B. E.LEMOFF, G. S.BROWN and S. E.HARRIS, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68(10) (1992) 1527.
K.HERRLIN, G.SVAHN, C.OLSON et al., Radiology 189 (1993) 65.
M.SCHNUERER, M. P.KALACHNIKOV, P. V.NICKLES et al., Phys. Plasmas 2(8) (1995) 3106.
M.MURNANE, H. C.KAPTEYN and R. W.FALCONE, Phys. Rev. Lett. 62 (1989) 155; M. MURNANE, H. C. KAPTEYN and R. W. FALCONE, Phys. Fluids B 3(8) (1991) 2409; M. MURNANE, H. C. KAPTEYN, M. D. ROSEN and R. W. FALCONE, Science 251 (1991) 531.
A.ZIGLER, P. G.BURKHALTER, D. J.NAGEL et al., Opt. Lett. 16(16) (1991) 1261.
H. M.MILCHBERG, I.LYUBOMIRSKY and C. G.DURFEEIII, Phys. Rev. Lett. 67(19) (1991) 2654.
P.AUDEBERT, J. P.GEINDRE, J. C.GAUTHIER, A.MYSYROWICZ, J. P.CHAMBARET and A. A.ANTONETTI, Europhys. Lett. 19 (1992) 189.
G. A.KYRALA, R. D.FULTON, E. K.WAHLIN et al., Appl. Phys. Lett 60(18) (1992) 2195.
J. C.KIEFFER, M.CHAKER, J. P.MATTE et al., Phys. Fluids B 5(7) (1993) 2676.
V.BOIKO, V. G.PALCHIKOV, I. Y.SKOBELEV and A. Y.FAENOV, X-Ray Spectroscopy of Multiply Charged Ions (Energoatomizdat, Moscow, 1988) [in Russian].
M. P.KALACHNIKOV, P. V.NICKLES, I.WILL, F.BILLHARDT and M.SCHNUERER, Laser and Particle Beams 12(3) (1994) 463.
B. A.BRYUNETKIN, I. Y.SKOBELEV, A. Y.FAENOV, M. P.KALACHNIKOV, P. V.NICKLES and M.SCHNUERER, Quantum Electron 23(4) (1993) 337.
B. A.BRUNETKIN, A. Ya.FAENOV, M.KALASHNIKOV et al., J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 53(1) (1995) 45.
L. D. VAN WOERKOM, R. R. FREEMAN, M. SHER et al., Generation and Application of Ultrashort X-Ray Pulses, Salamanca, 1994.
S. SVANBERG, A. PERSSON, C. TILLMAN et al., Generation and Application of Ultrashort X-Ray Pulses, Salamanca, 1994.
S. C.WILKS, W. L.KRUER, M.TABAK and A. B.LANGDON, Phys. Rev. Lett. 69(9) (1992) 1383.
P.GIBBON and A. R.BELL, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68(10) (1992) 1535; P. GIBBON, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73(5) (1994) 664.
H. R.GRIEM, Plasma Spectroscopy (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1964).
U.TEUBNER, J.BERGMANN, B.VANWONTERGHEM, F. P.SCHÄFER and R.SAUERBREY, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70 (1993) 794.
P. V. NICKLES, M. P. KALAKCHNIKOV, M. SCHNUERER and F. BILLHARDT, European Conference on Laser Interaction with Matter, Paris, 10–14 May 1993, abstract O39.
D. D.MEYERHOFER, H.CHEN, J. A.DELETTREZ, B.SOOM, S.UUCHIDA and B.YAAKOBI, Phys. Fluids B 5(7) (1993) 2584.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nickles, P.V., Schnuerer, M., Kalachnikov, M.P. et al. X-ray emission from short-pulse laser plasmas. Opt Quant Electron 28, 229–239 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00385855
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00385855