Abstract

During the past several years, numerous experiments have been conducted at many laboratories worldwide to study x-ray generation from laser-produced plasmas. This interest is motivated by Inertial Confinement Fusion, XUV/x-ray lasers, x-ray radiography and lithography, and by basic studies of radiation transport and material opacities in hot, dense plasmas. We will discuss the physics underlying x-ray production from such plasmas (broad-band thermal and non-thermal components and line radiation) emphasizing the dependence on laser intensity, wavelength, pulse length, and target composition. Recent experiments demonstrating > 75% conversion of laser energy to spectrally integrated x-ray yield, efficient production of line radiation (1 keV to 5 keV) with sub 50 psec time duration, and the observation of stimulated emission in the 150Å to 260Å region of the spectrum will be presented.

© 1986 Optical Society of America