Control of Bright Picosecond X-Ray Emission from Intense Subpicosecond Laser-Plasma Interactions

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Abstract
Using temporally and spectrally resolved diagnostics, we show that the pulse duration of laser-produced soft x rays emitted from solid targets can be controlled, permitting a reduction to as short as a few picoseconds. To enable this control, only a single parameter must be adjusted, namely, the intensity of the high-contrast ultrashort laser pulse (400 fs). These results are found to be in qualitative agreement with a simple model of radiation from a collisionally dominated atomic system.