Mixed-Species Targets for Femtosecond-Time-Scale X-Ray Generation

Abstract

We suggest the use of mixtures of light and heavy elements as targets for laser-driven femtosecond-time-scale x-ray line radiators. It is shown that the essential cooling of a heavy metal together with the loss-modified thermal conductivity allows an x-ray pulse to replicate a laser pulse on a femtosecond time scale, and to achieve such an x-ray pulse, the density of heavy metal must be reduced to a level commensurate with the absorbed laser energy. Results of numerical modeling for the generation of 3.6-Å x rays in a mixture of Li and Sn are given.