Production of photoionized plasmas in the laboratory with x-ray line radiation

Journal article

In this paper we report the experimental implementation of a theoretically proposed technique for creating a photoionized plasma in the laboratory using x-ray line radiation. Using a Sn laser plasma to irradiate an Ar gas target, the photoionization parameter, ξ = 4πF/Ne, reached values of order 50 erg cm s−1, where F is the radiation flux in erg cm−2 s−1. The significance of this is that this technique allows us to mimic effective spectral radiation temperatures in excess of 1 keV. We show that our plasma starts to be collisionally dominated before the peak of the x-ray drive. However, the technique is extendable to higher-energy laser systems to create plasmas with parameters relevant to benchmarking codes used to model astrophysical objects.

Authors: White, S; Irwin, R; Warwick, R; Gribakin, G; Sarri, G

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Journal: Physical Review E
• Volume: 97
• Issue: 6
• Article number: 063203
• Publication date: 2018-06-07
• Acceptance date: 2018-05-14
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.97.063203
• EISSN: 2470-0053
• ISSN: 2470-0045