HIGH SPECTRAL AND SPATIAL-RESOLUTION OF M ONOCHROMATIC X-RAY SHADOWGRAPHY OF AN EXPANDING LASER-PLASMA

A focusing spectrograph with a spherical crystal was used to obtain tw o-dimensional images of an expanding laser plasma which transmitted mo nochromatic x-ray radiation from a plasma source. Experiments characte rised by a high spectral (lambda/Delta lambda similar to 10(4)) and sp atial (Delta r < 10 mu m) resolution showed that the brightness of the shadow images depended on the x-ray absorption mechanism and on the p arameters of the investigated plasma. The method is suitable, in princ iple, for determination of the plasma parameters.