Shell-target laser-plasma images in the light of intrinsic and backlit X radiation

Results are presented of calculation of x-ray plasma images of glass shell targets with diagnostic additives Na, K, and Ca in the light of the intrinsic radiation of the resonance lines of H and He ions with Z_n = 8, ii, 14, and 20, and also in the light of cw radiation in the wavelength range = 1-300 Å. The calculation results are compared with laser-plasma images obtained in experiments with the Del'fin-l thermonuclear facility. The temperature and density of the plasma, the rate of corona expansion, the target mass ablation rate, and the hydrodynamic coefficient of laser-energy transfer into kinetic energy of the ablating shell are determined. The plasma images obtained by backlighting the shell target with an auxiliary x-ray source are analyzed with account taken of the radiation refraction. The required energy, temporal, and spectral characteristics of the auxiliary source are determined.Laser-Plasma Laboratory, Lebedev Physics Institute. Translated from Preprint No. 70 of the Lebedev Physics Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 1989.