X-Ray Emission from Laser-Produced Plasmas

We measured several characteristics of the x-ray emission from plasmas produced at the focus of a high-power (∼10 GW) laser. X-ray spectra in the 1-2-keV region show that the plasmas contain highly stripped atoms (10-12 electrons missing from Al, 20-22 from Zn, and 36-38 from Gd). The laser-plasma x-ray source can emit about 0.1 J of x rays above 1 keV in 1 nsec from a volume about 100 μm in diameter. This corresponds to more than ${10}^{13}$ W/${\mathrm{cm}}^3$.