Calculation of the time-dependent excitation and ionization in a laser-produced plasma

A method for the self-consistent solution of the hydrodynamic, excitation and ionization equations describing a laser-produced plasma is presented. The coupling of atomic processes and the free electron energy balance equation in a one-dimensional Lagrangian model is described. Transitions between excited as well as the ground states are included within the average-atom approximation. The resulting model is used to calculate ionization and population inversion in Delta n not=0 recombination X-ray laser experiments. With the addition of a steady-state collisional radiative model for Delta n=0 transitions, collisional X-ray lasers have also been modelled.