A superbright X-ray source with a radiation temperature of ~1.2 keV making it possible to create a solid-state plasma whose kinetics is determined by the radiative processes has been implemented under the impact of a 170-TW pulse of the PEARL femtosecond laser facility on an aluminum target with submicron thickness. The diagnostics of the created plasma is performed by X-ray spectral methods using spectral transitions in hollow multicharged ions.

Results are presented from an investigation of the hard X-ray spectrum and the parameters of fast particles in experiments on the interaction of laser pulses with solid targets in the PROGRESS-P facility at laser intensities of up to 5×10 18 W/cm 2 on the target surface. The maximum energy of fast electrons obtained from direct measurements is found to be 8–10 MeV.

The effect of a prepulse with a rising amplitude on the absorption and compression of microspheres filled with the DT gas was investigated for ratios of the power of a prepulse to the power of the main pulse in the range 10 − 9–10 − 4. The experiments were carried out using the PROGRESS laser facility (λ = 1.06 μm, q≤2 × 1015 W/cm2). An increase of the relative power of a prepulse from 10 − 8 to 10 − 6–10 − 4 reduced the absorption coefficient by a factor of 1.5–2 and increased the degree of compression by a factor of 2–3. An analytic model allowing for the influence of a prepulse was developed. The experimental results were compared with the model calculations.

The six-beam Progress laser facility was used in a study of compression and heating of glass microbubbles filled with a DT gas and coated outside by a thin (~0.1?) aluminum film. The power density of Nd laser radiation (?=1.054?) reaching the target surface was (1?2)?1015 W/cm2 and the specific energy deposited in the target was 0.1-0.25 J/ng. Two-dimensional images of a laser plasma were recorded using x-ray lines of multiply charged Si and Al ions. Strong Al lines observed at distances close to the target center were evidence of a strongly unstable nature of compression of the laser plasma. This was confirmed also by a weak dependence of the neutron yield on the specific input energy, which did not agree with the results of one-dimensional calculations carried out using the Zarya program.

A study was made of the continuous and line x-ray spectra obtained in the course of spherical high-power pulse irradiation of glass microsphere targets using a multibeam neodymium laser apparatus. The continuous spectrum, measured in the quantum energy range 1–16 keV, was characterized by two values of the effective electron temperature: 0.6 keV (for the thermal electrons) and 2 keV (for the fast electrons). Two-dimensional images of the laser target, obtained using the x-ray lines due to transitions in H- and He-like silicon ions, were compared with the results of target image calculations made employing a one-dimensional gasdynamic program "Zarya". The possibility was investigated of determining the electron density and temperature profiles in the corona of SiO2 microsphere targets and a study was made of the influence of the transient nature of the plasma ionization state on the x-ray line emission from multiply charged Si ions.