Interaction of a 1 psec laser pulse with solid matter

Abstract

Absorption and x‐ray emission results obtained with a 1 psec pulse incident on solid targets with an intensity between 10¹¹ and 10¹⁶ W/cm² are presented and discussed. For I1⁴ W/cm², submicron density gradient scale lengths (L/λ≤0.2) are measured and the comparison of calculated and experimental values of absorption for aluminum indicates a relatively good agreement for p polarization and noticeable differences for s polarization. X‐ray conversion efficiencies have been obtained in the sub‐keV and keV range. At high intensities (I>10¹⁵ W/cm²) an evaluation of the plasma parameters is obtained from high resolution keV spectra. Finally, the results are discussed in the light of 1‐D hydrodynamic simulations with time‐dependent atomic physics.