X-ray study of microdroplet plasma formation under the action of superintense laser radiation

Abstract

We have measured the X-ray emission spectra of a plasma generated by laser radiation with an intensity above 1019W/cm2 and a pulse duration of 30 fs acting upon an argon jet target with a large abundance of micron-sized clusters. The time variation of the X-ray yield from ions of various multiplicities, calculated within the framework of a nonstationary kinetic model, shows a good qualitative agreement with the experimental time-integrated spectrum.