Absolute measurement for He-α resonance (1s²¹S₀−1s2p¹P₁, at 40.2 Å) line emission from a laser-produced carbon plasma has been studied as a function of laser intensity. The optimum laser intensity is found to be ≈1.3×10¹² W/cm² for the maximum emission of 3.2 × 10¹³ photons sr⁻¹ pulse⁻¹. Since this line lies in the water window spectral region, it has potential application in x-ray microscopic imaging of biological sample in wet condition. Theoretical calculation using corona model for the emission of this line is also carried out with appropriate ionization and radiative recombination rate coefficients

Temporal, spatial and spectral characteristics of a multi-keV monochromatic point x-ray source based on vacuum diode with laser-produced plasma as cathode are presented. Electrons from a laser-produced aluminium plasma were accelerated towards a conical point tip titanium anode to generate K-shell x-ray radiation. Approximately 10₁₀ photons/pulse were generated in x-ray pulses of ∼18 to ∼28 ns duration from a source of ∼300 μm diameter, athυ = 4.51 keV (K_α emission of titanium), with a brightness of ∼10²⁰ photons/cm²/s/sr. This was sufficient to record single-shot x-ray radiographs of physical objects on a DEF-5 x-ray film kept at a distance of up to ∼10 cm.

The effect of dielectronic recombination in determining charge-state distribution and radiative emission from a laser-produced carbon plasma has been investigated in the collisional radiative ionization equilibrium. It is observed that the relative abundances of different ions in the plasma, and soft X-ray emission intensity get significantly altered when dielectronic recombination is included. Theoretical estimates of the relative population of CVI to CV ions and ratio of line intensity emitted from them for two representative formulations of dielectronic recombination are presented.

Parametric dependence of the intensity of 182 Å Balmer-𝛼 line $(C^{5+}; n = 3 \rightarrow 2)$, relevant to xuv soft X-ray lasing schemes, from laser-produced carbon plasma is studied in circular spot focusing geometry using a flat field grating spectrograph. The maximum spectral intensity for this line in space integrated mode occurred at a laser intensity of $1.2 \times 10^{13}$ W cm^-2. At this laser intensity, the space resolved measurements show that the spectral intensity of this line peaks at $\sim 1.5$ mm from the target surface indicating the maximum population of C⁵⁺ ions $(n = 3)$, at this distance. From a comparison of spatial intensity variation of this line with that of C⁵⁺ Ly-𝛼 $(n = 2 \rightarrow 1)$ line, it is inferred that $n = 3$ state of C⁵⁺ ions is predominantly populated through three-body recombination pumping of C$^{6+}$ ions of the expanding plasma consistent with quantitative estimates on recombination rates of different processes.

Synchronized signal (650 ps) and pump (1.3 ns) pulses were generated using 4-pass geometry in a grating pair based pulse stretcher unit. The pump pulse has been further amplified in a high gain regenerative amplifier. This amplified pulse was used as the pump in an optical parametric chirped pulse amplification based Nd:glass laser system. As the chirped signal pulse and the pump pulse originated from the same oscillator, the time jitter between the pump pulse and the signal pulse can be <50 ps.

Optical diagnostics of laser-produced plasma requires a coherent, polarized probe beam synchronized with the pump beam. The probe beam should have energy above the background emission of plasma. Though the second harmonic probe beam satisfies most of the requirements, the plasma emission is larger at the harmonic frequencies of the pump. Hence, at high intensities we need a probe beam at non-harmonic frequencies. We have set up a Raman frequency shifted probe beam using a pressurized hydrogen cell that is pumped by the second harmonic of the Nd glass laser that operates at only one Stokes line of 673.75 nm.

An experimental study is presented on measurements of optical spectrum of the laser light scattered from solid surface irradiated by Ti:sapphire laser pulses up to an intensity of $1.2 \times 10^{18}$ W cm^-2. The spectrum has well-defined peaks at wavelengths corresponding to $2\omega$ and $3/2\omega$ radiations. The spectral features vary with the laser intensity and show blue-shift with increasing laser intensity. At a constant laser fluence, the spectrum is red-shifted with increasing laser pulse duration. The observed results are explained in terms of the density scale length variation of the plasma and laser chirp.

Hohlraums of high-𝑍 materials are used as soft X-ray sources to study indirect drive fusion, equation of state of materials etc. Here, we describe a method to develop spherical gold hohlraums of large wall thickness ($\sim 70–80 \mu$m) on which laser entrance and diagnostics holes are drilled using a 10 Hz Nd:YLF laser. Holes of different diameters have been drilled with lenses of different focal lengths. The back wall of the hohlraum is protected from the damage by shutting off the laser at pre-determined hole drilling time.

We report here an experimental study of the ionic keV X-ray line emission from magnesium plasma produced by laser pulses of three widely different pulse durations (FWHM) of 45 fs, 25 ps and 3 ns, at a constant laser fluence of $\sim 1.5 \times 10^4$ J cm^-2. It is observed that the X-ray yield of the resonance lines from the higher ionization states such as H- and He-like ions decreases on decreasing the laser pulse duration, even though the peak laser intensities of $3.5 \times 10^{17}$ W cm^-2 for the 45 fs pulses and $6.2 \times 10^{14}$ W cm^-2 for the 25 ps pulses are much higher than $5 \times 10^{12}$ W cm^-2 for the 3 ns laser pulse. The results were explained in terms of the ionization equilibrium time for different ionization states in the heated plasma. The study can be useful to make optimum choice of the laser pulse duration to produce short pulse intense X-ray line emission from the plasma and to get the knowledge of the degree of ionization in the plasma.

A sequential three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulation code PICPSI-3D with a user friendly graphical user interface (GUI) has been developed and used to study the interaction of plasma with ultrahigh intensity laser radiation. A case study of laser–plasma-based electron acceleration has been carried out to assess the performance of this code. Simulations have been performed for a Gaussian laser beam of peak intensity $5 \times 10^{19}$ W/cm² propagating through an underdense plasma of uniform density $1 \times 10^{19}$ cm^-3, and for a Gaussian laser beam of peak intensity $1.5 \times 10^{19}$ W/cm² propagating through an underdense plasma of uniform density $3.5 \times 10^{19}$ cm^-3. The electron energy spectrum has been evaluated at different time-steps during the propagation of the laser beam. When the plasma density is $1 \times 10^{19}$ cm^-3, simulations show that the electron energy spectrum forms a monoenergetic peak at $\sim 14$ MeV, with an energy spread of $\pm 7$ MeV. On the other hand, when the plasma density is $3.5 \times 10^{19}$ cm^-3, simulations show that the electron energy spectrum forms a monoenergetic peak at $\sim 23$ MeV, with an energy spread of $\pm 7.5$ MeV.

The electric field enhancement inside a nanotube irradiated by intense ultrashort laser pulse ($\ll 1$ ps) is calculated. The hollowness of the nanotubes determines the field enhancement and the electron density at which such structures exhibit resonance. The electric field in a nanotube plasma is shown to be resonantly enhanced at multiple densities during the two phases of interaction: the ionization phase and the hydrodynamic expansion phase. It is further shown that by a proper choice of hollowness of the nanotubes, a continued occurrence of the resonance over a longer time can be achieved. These properties make nanotubes efficient absorbers of intense ultrashort laser pulses.

High energy, high power (HEHP) Nd:glass laser systems are used for inertial confinement fusion and equation of state (EOS) studies of materials at high temperature and pressure. A program has been undertaken for the indigenous development of Nd-doped phosphate laser glass rods and discs for HEHP lasers. In this paper, we report the characterization of the Nd-doped phosphate laser glass rods produced under this program and compare the indigenously developed laser glass to LHG-8 laser glass of M/s Hoya, Japan. We experimentally measured the values of the stimulated emission cross-section (𝜎) and coefficient of intensity-dependent refractive index ($n_2$) and hence the figure of merit $F = \sigma/n_2$ of the indigenous phosphate laser glass rods. This value of figure of merit is found comparable to the reported value of identically doped Nd:glass rods.

Spectral analysis of K-shell X-ray emission of magnesium plasma, produced by laser pulses of 45 fs duration, focussed up to an intensity of ∼10¹⁸ W cm^-2, is carried out. The plasma conditions prevalent during the emission of X-ray spectrum were identified by comparing the experimental spectra with the synthetic spectra generated using the spectroscopic code Prism-SPECT. It is observed that He-like resonance line emission occurs from the plasma region having sub-critical density, whereas K-𝛼 emission arises from the bulk solid heated to a temperature of 10 eV by the impact of hot electrons. K-𝛼 line from Be-like ions was used to estimate the hot electron temperature. A power law fit to the electron temperature showed a scaling of $I^{0.47}$ with laser intensity.