AbstractLaser plasmas are well-suited to studies of ionic photoabsorption because they can provide highly ionized, low temperature plasmas of high column density, as well as bright, compact continuum X-ray sources which can illuminate the plasma under study. In our experiment, continuum X-rays from a gold laser plasma are partially absorbed as they traverse a carbon plasma and are then dispersed by a grazing incidence reflection grating. An X-ray imaging camera records both the absorbed and unabsorbed spectra simultaneously for later computer analysis to determine the photoabsorption cross sections for each carbon ion species.
Measurement of Carbon Ion Photoabsorption Cross Sections Using Laser Plasmas