APPLICATIONS OF X-RAYS FROM LASER PRODUCED PLASMAS.

Abstract

The plasmas most effective for the type of x-ray production of interest in this paper consist of high Z materials raised to the 1 kilovolt regime in temperature and optimized for the emission of L lines and continuum radiation. Typical conversion efficiencies of laser light to x-rays in the 1-2 keV range are over 10 percent. The absorption, ionization, hydrodynamics, and radiation process in high Z plasmas are complex. In view of this complexity, it will be valuable to discuss the basic phenomenology when an intense laser beam strikes a high Z plasma target.