A study of laser plasmas as X-ray sources in the 1-10 keV spectral region

An experimental investigation on X-ray emission from laser-produced plasmas is presented and the properties of such an emission of interest for application purposes are examined. Plasmas were generated by focusing 1 ?m, 3 ns Nd laser pulses onto Al and Cu targets at an intensity of 1013 W/cm2. The temporal evolution of the emission and its spectral features were investigated by using an X-ray streak-camera and an X-ray photodiode. In the case of Cu targets, the analysis of the emission showed two spectral components. The main component was centered at ? 1.2 keV and a minor component, whose intensity was measured to be 10-3 of the previous component, was observed at ?7 keV. The X-ray conversion efficiency, in the investigated spectral region, was measured to be 1% for Cu targets and 0.3% for Al targets.