Enhancement of laser to X-ray conversion by counter-propagating laser beams irradiating thin gold targets

Abstract

X-ray emission from laser irradiating solid target is an important X-ray source for various potential applications. Counter-propagating (C-P) laser beams configuration is proposed to enhance the laser to X-ray conversion efficiency (CE) from laser irradiating solid targets. One-dimensional radiation hydrodynamics simulations show that the total X-ray CE for the C-P lasers case is as high as 65%, which has a 13% improvement compared with the single laser case. The improvement is mainly caused by the enlarged radiation region, and the enhancement of X-ray emission is from soft X-ray. Detailed energy term distributions and influences of the foil thickness on the X-ray CEs for both cases are presented. It is found that the enhancement of radiation is attributed to lower thermal and kinetic energy of the C-P lasers scheme.