PHOTOPUMPING AND FLUORESCENCE IN A LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA .1. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

A complete series of three experiments dedicated to the study of a photopumping and resonance fluorescence scheme is presented. An aluminum plasma is preformed in the heliumlike ground state by a 2-J 1.06-mu-m laser beam, then this plasma is photopumped by an x-ray source approximately 1 ns later. The pump is a spatially distinct laser-produced plasma that emits intense emission of the heliumlike resonance lines in the 4-8-angstrom region. The pump is line coincident with the transitions to be photopumped. The resulting perturbation is studied by the fluorescence, which is directly observed and absolutely quantified. The separate characterization of each component of this system is discussed in detail, with an emphasis on the experimental quantities that will be compared with numerical calculations.