Space- and time-resolved soft x-ray emission from laser-produced magnesium plasma

Soft x-ray emission from plasmas produced by ablation from a magnesium target employing a ruby laser is studied using a grazing incidence spectrograph in the spectral region 3-12 nm. Emission intensities are investigated for different ionic lines as a function of position, time after the maximum of the laser pulse and laser irradiance. A gated pinhole camera is employed for studying the evolution of the plasma at early stages. The propagation distances and velocities are measured. Our results show that the line intensities of all ionic lines increase with laser irradiance until a saturation plateau is observed at high irradiance levels. The increase in ionization and intensity saturation with varying laser irradiance seems to suggest strong interaction of the laser pulse with the dense plasma formed near the target within the pulse duration.