Abstract

This is a second-generation report on the characterization of laser-produced x-ray backlighting line sources. Previous work^1-3 concentrated on the production of Au M(~2.5-keV), Ti K(~4.75-keV), Ni K (7.7-keV), and Zn K(8.6-keV) lines as a function of laser pulse length and intensity at λ_L = 1.06 and 0.53 µm. Yaakobi et al.⁴ recently reported a similar characterization of K x-ray line emitters. They note that a factor of 10 or more increase in the line production efficiency (compared to λ_l = 1.06-µm data) can be obtained when using a laser of wavelength λ_L=0.35 µm. With the exception of lines from Au M band radiation, our present work does not substantiate their result. We observe a significantly less increase in production efficiency as a function of decreasing laser wavelength.

© 1982 Optical Society of America