J. Steingruber et al., PREPULSE DEPENDENCE OF X-RAY-EMISSION FROM PLASMAS CREATED BY IR FEMTOSECOND LASER-PULSES ON SOLIDS, Journal of physics. B, Atomic molecular and optical physics, 29(2), 1996, pp. 75-81
We report a strong prepulse dependence of the emission of X-rays from
plasmas created by 150 fs Ti:sapphire laser pulses on solids. The lase
r pulses were focused onto plane samples of aluminium and vanadium wit
h a main pulse power density of about 2.5 x 10(16) W cm(-2). By splitt
ing off a portion of the main pulse we were able to generate a prepuls
e whose delay and intensity were variable relative to the main pulse.
With no prepulse, very weak X-ray radiation from Al9+ and Al10+ was ob
served, whereas a prepulse to main pulse ratio of more than 0.1% and t
he prepulse preceding the main pulse by more than 2 ns produced up to
50 times stronger X-ray output.