Hard X-ray Generation by Femtosecond Laser Induced Plasma and Picosecond X-ray Diffraction

Abstract

Hard X-ray generation by irradiating the femtosecond laser, produced by using a table-top tera-watt laser system, onto metal targets is reported. The X-rays generated from a Cu target has an energy of around 8 keV and a pulse width of 6 ps. X-ray diffraction has been made on a Si(111) surface using the X-ray. A preliminary experiment of picosecond time-resolved X-ray diffraction on the lattice expansion of a Si crystal by 300 ps laser irradiation is demonstrated.