High-resolution x-ray spectroscopy of a plasma produced by an intense picosecond laser pulse

It has been shown experimentally that a source based on a plasma produced by a picosecond laser is extremely promising for systematic research on the satellite structures of multiply charged ions which have electrons in L or M shells. The combination of the unique characteristics of this source and the particular measurement apparatus used (with a spectral resolution Δ λ / λ ∼10 −4 ) has made it possible to refine the wavelengths of several transitions of Mg IX and X ions which had been identified previously, to identify for the first time ten spectral lines due to 1 s 2 p 4 l → 1 s 2 4 l and 1 s 2 p 3 l → 1 s 2 3 l transitions of the Mg X ion, and to measure the wavelengths of 47 spectral lines which have tentatively been attributed to the Be-like ion Mg IX.