Spectral and imaging characterization of tabletop X-ray lasers

We have performed L-shell spectroscopy and one-dimensional (I-D) imaging of a line focus plasma from a laser-heated Fe polished stab using the tableto p COMET laser system at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. These p lasmas are used to generate a Ne-like Fe transient gain x-ray laser that is recorded simultaneously. A spherically-curved crystal spectrometer gives h igh resolution x-ray spectra of the n= 3 - 2 and n= 4 - 2 resonance lines w ith I-D spatial resolution along the line focus. Spectra are presented for different laser pulse conditions. In addition, a variety of x-ray imaging t echniques are described. We discuss imaging results from a double-slit x-ra y camera with a spherically-curved crystal spectrometer. We show a high res olution Fe K-alpha spectrum from the x-ray laser target that indicates the presence of hot electrons in the x-ray laser plasma.