Generation of photoionized plasmas with high-power lasers

In this paper, we discuss some of the technical challenges involved in experimental work to explore photoionization-dominated plasmas in the laboratory using high-power lasers. The challenges include the need to generate a high X-ray flux combined with the low plasma density that is necessary to ensure photoionization is a dominant process, as it is for the astrophysical plasmas that we wish to understand. We discuss experimental issues, including X-ray flux generation, diagnostics, and methods of creating a uniform sample. We will reference previous work carried out over the past couple of decades and point to some future possible experiments.