Diagnostic of dense plasmas using X-ray spectra

The spectrally and spatially resolved X-ray spectra emitted from a dense aluminum plasma produced by 500 J, 1 ns Nd:glass laser pulses are presented. Six primary hydrogen-like and helium-like lines are identified and simulated with the atomic physics code FLY. We find that the plasma is almost completely ionized under the experimental conditions. The highest electron density we measured reaches up to 1023 cm−3. The spatial variations of the electron temperature and density are compared with the simulations of MEDUSA hydrocode for different geometry targets. The results indicate that lateral expansion of the plasma produced with this laser beam plays an important role.