Ultrafast x-ray sources*

Time-resolved spectroscopy (with a 2 psec temporal resolution) of plasmas produced by the interaction between solid targets and a high contrast subpicosecond table top terawatt (T3) laser at 1016 W/cm2, is used to study the basic processes which control the x-ray pulse duration. Short x-ray pulses have been obtained by spectral selection or by plasma gradient scalelength control. Time-dependent calculations of the atomic physics Phys. Fluids B 4, 2007, 1992 coupled to a Fokker–Planck code Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 1461, 1984 indicate that it is essential to take into account the non-Maxwellian character of the electron distribution for a quantitative analysis of the experimental results.