X-ray spectromicroscopy investigations of fast ions and hot electrons in plasmas, heated by nanosecond laser radiation with different wavelengths

Summary form only given. By means of space resolved X-ray spectroscopy we have investigated the generation of fast (up to MeV) ions for various laser installations with different flux densities (10/sup 12/-10/sup 14/ W/cm/sup 2/) and laser wavelengths (/spl lambda/=308 nm, 800 nm, 1.06 /spl mu/m, 10.6 /spl mu/m). The implementation of our spectroscopically determined data into the generally accepted scaling relation diagrams with the axes q/spl lambda//sup 2/ and E/sub ion/, where q is the laser flux density, /spl lambda/ the laser wavelength and E/sub ion/ the fast ion energy showed a large scatter by orders of magnitude. The simultaneous use of mass spectrometry showed reasonable agreement for both methods of measurements. Non-Maxwellian X-ray spectroscopy enabled us for the first time to investigate the generation of fast ions and hot electrons by means of space resolved spectroscopy in plasma areas, where the interaction with the laser beam takes place.