Characteristics of hard x-ray emission from subpicosecond laser-produced plasmas

Abstract

Calibrated thermoluminescence dosimeters have been used to measure the angular and spectral dependence of hard x-ray emission produced from intense subpicosecond laser irradiation of solid targets. A dosimeter detector set with nine filter channels (13.5-400 keV) has been tested successfully. Total bremsstrahlung conversion up to 0.23% and conversion of 8×10-5 from laser energy to Ta K α line emission (photon energy ≈57 keV) was determined. The scaling of the hard x-ray yield with laser intensities ranging from 3×1016 to 3×1018 W/cm2 was investigated. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.