Abstract

The control of the X-ray emission from high-intensity laser-produced plasmas is a subject of current interest (see, e.g., [1]) and requires an understanding of the laser-pulse absorption, thermal transport and the X-ray conversion processes. Both depend on various factors (i.e., target material, angle of incidence, laser intensity, laser pulse duration etc.) and, in particular, ultrashort laser pulses offer the opportunity to generate ultrashort X-ray bursts of high brightness. Furthermore, these short pulse laser-plasma X-ray emitters are of fundamental interest because they allow to diagnose the laser-plasma interaction under unique conditions.

© 1997 Optical Society of America