Metal nanoplasmas as bright sources of hard X-ray pulses.
We report significant enhancements in light coupling to intense-laser-created solid plasmas via surface plasmon and "lightning rod" effects. We demonstrate this in metal nanoparticle-coated solid targets irradiated with 100 fs, 806 nm laser pulses, focused to intensities approximately 10(14)-10(15) W cm(-2). Our experiments show a 13-fold enhancement in hard x-ray yield (10-200 keV) emitted by copper nanoparticle plasmas formed at the focal volume. A simple model explains the observed enhancement quantitatively and provides pointers to the design of structured surfaces for maximizing such emissions.
Rajeev
P P
PP
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005, India.
Taneja
P
P
Ayyub
P
P
Sandhu
A S
AS
Kumar
G Ravindra
GR