Investigations concerning plasma parameters and population inversion in laser-produced counterstreaming plasmas

Abstract

We investigated the case where two laser-produced plasmas collide nearly head on. Special attention was devoted to the fundamentals necessary to realize a coherent X-ray source. A gas-dynamic computational analysis was performed to understand the evolution of the density, the temperature, and the velocity of merging plasmas. The spatial intensity distribution of selected spectral lines reveals that the interaction of plasmas of different nuclear charge and charge state is not strictly collision dominated. Using spectral line intensity ratios, we determined electron temperatures and electron number densities, as well as the intensity inversion on the 4–1 to 3–1 resonance transitions of [He]-like Al. Inversion occurs in the vicinity of the targets if identical materials are used (Al–Al) and is possibly indicated in the interaction zone for different ones (Al–Cu), too. The inversion factors (and the gain coefficient) for the 4–3 transition of [He]-like Al at about 130 Å were estimated.