Optimization of bremsstrahlung and characteristic line emission from aluminum plasma

Intense XUV and soft X-ray emission from laser-produced plasma sources are currently of great interest for a variety of research applications including inertial confinement fusion, and X-ray backlighting. Optimization of X-ray lines such as the Heα line (resonance line 1S2P 1P1−1S21S0), the inter-combination line (1S2P 3P1−1S21S0), the di-electronic satellite (1S2P22D−1S22P 2P) lines and the Kα lines along with bremsstrahlung radiation in the spectral range 0.8–8.5 keV has been carried out using a 20 J/500 ps laser system. Optimization has been performed by changing the laser energy at fixed laser focal position and with focal position variation while keeping the laser energy constant.