Studying Electron Distributions Using the Time-Resolved Free-Bound Spectra from Coronal Plasmas

摘要

Absorption of laser light in a plasma by inverse bremsstrahlung, I.B., can lead to a non-Maxwellian velocity distribution provided the electron-elecron collision frequency is too low to equilibrate the velocity distribution in the coronal plasma region of a laser heated aluminum disk by measuring the radiation recombination continuum. The experiments are performed using lambda/sub L/ = 0.532 mu m laser light at intensities of approx. 10 exp 16 W/cm exp 2 . Such parameters are predicted to produce conditions suitable for a non-thermal electron distribution. The shape of the K-shell recombination radiation has been measured using a time-resolved x-ray spectrograph. The electron distribution can be determined from deconvolution of the recombination continuum shape. (ERA citation 08:019347)