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Title: Absolute X-Ray Yields From Laser-Irradiated Ge-Doped Low-Density Aerogels

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
OSTI ID:956848

We have used the OMEGA laser (Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester) to measure the X-ray yields from laser-irradiated germanium-doped ultra-low-density aerogel plasmas in the energy range from sub-keV to {approx} 15 keV. They have studied the targets X-ray yields with variation in target size, aerogel density, laser pulse length and laser intensity. For targets that result in plasmas with electron densities in the range of {approx} 10% of the critical density for 3{omega} light, one can expect 10-11 J/sr of X-rays with energies above 9 keV, and 600-800 J/sr for energies below 3.5 keV. In addition to the X-ray spectral yields, they have measured the X-ray temporal waveforms and found that the emitted X rays generally follow the delivered laser power, with late-time enhancements of emitted X-ray power correlated with hydrodynamic compression of the hot plasma. Also, they find the laser energy reflected from the target by plasma instabilities to be 2-7% of the incident energy for individual beam intensities {approx} 10{sup 14}-10{sup 15} W/cm{sup 2}. They also have characterized the propagation of the laser heating in the target volume with two-dimensional imaging. They find the source-region heating to be correlated with the temporal profile of the emitted X-ray power.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
956848
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-410929; PHPAEN; TRN: US1002137
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16; ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English