Low-energy x-ray imaging of laser plasmas

Abstract

A major fraction of the x-ray flux from laser-produced plasmas is in the subkilovolt regime. The spectral content in this region is measured with x-ray diodes, which contain no spatial information. We present a description of a pinhole camera that operates in the 200–300-eV range. This permits the correlation of an image with corresponding x-ray diode data. The construction and operation of the camera are described, and low-energy and high-energy photographs of a laser-irradiated gold sphere are presented.