Abstract

Tightly focused radiation of ultra-short pulses from a terawatt laser interacting with a high-Z solid target, gives rise to the formation of a hot micro-plasma which radiates x-rays with energies up to the MeV region [1]. We have used the 10 Hz table-top terawatt laser of the Lund High Power Laser Facility [2] to generate x-rays in this way. This laser is based on chirped-pulse amplification in titanium-doped sapphire and yields 150 fs pulses with a maximum power of 1.5 TW. Our experiments aim at the full characterization of the radiation as well as to practical applications.

© 1994 Optical Society of America