Effects of induced spatial incoherence on laser light absorption and x-ray conversion at 0.53 microm.

Abstract

Gold disk targets were irradiated with and without induced spatial incoherence (ISI) at \ensuremath{\lambda}=0.526 \ensuremath{\mu}m and intensities of (1--5)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{14}$ W/${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. The distribution of laser energy on target and M-band x-ray (2--4 keV) pinhole images of the target were smoothed with ISI. Absorption of laser energy was increased by 5--10 % with ISI. Soft-x-ray conversion efficiency with and without ISI were equal within the data scatter and uncertainty of \ensuremath{\sim}10%.