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

Authors

J. Workman, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Anatoly Maksimchuk, University of MichiganFollow
X. Liu, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
U. Ellenberger, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
J.S. Coe, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
C.-Y. Chien, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Donald P. Umstadter, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

9-18-1995

Comments

Published by American Physical Society. Physical Review Letters 75, 2324 (1995). http://prl.aps.org. Copyright © 1995 American Physical Society. Permission to use.

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.