Polarization of X Rays from Laser-Produced Plasmas

This letter reports a successful measurement of the polarization of X-radiation from a laser-produced plasma. A 5-J Nd-glass laser was employed to produce plasma from a flat polyethylene target, and a polarimeter incorporating five scintillator-photomultipliers served as the diagnostic tool. Experim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 1977-05, Vol.38 (18), p.1024-1027
Main Authors: Shohet, J. L., van Hulsteyn, D. B., Gitomer, S. J., Kephart, J. F., Godwin, R. P.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:This letter reports a successful measurement of the polarization of X-radiation from a laser-produced plasma. A 5-J Nd-glass laser was employed to produce plasma from a flat polyethylene target, and a polarimeter incorporating five scintillator-photomultipliers served as the diagnostic tool. Experimental results for a shot in which polarization was measured at an observation angle of 5 deg with respect to the target surface are presented which imply that the X-rays were polarized predominantly parallel to the target normal and indicate a scattering efficiency of roughly 1%. A relation between the net anisotropy of the hot-electron velocity distribution and the X-ray intensity and polarization is determined by performing a Monte Carlo integration to obtain X-ray fluxes for two orthogonal polarizations, using cross sections for free-free electron-ion bremsstrahlung.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.38.1024