Separation of emission lines of multiply charged ions against background of a very noisy spectrum of femtosecond laser plasma

Abstract

At high intensities of interaction of femtosecond laser pulses with various targets, numerous high-energy particles emitted from plasma in all directions lead to the appearance of parasitic peaks in the X-ray spectra of femtosecond laser plasma (FLP) during detection of these peaks with a detector based on a charge-coupled device (CCD). The algorithm proposed in this study allows identification of parasitic peaks in a series of experimental spectra, which are recorded for each pixel of the CCD detector independently of other pixels, and removal of these peaks. The algorithm is able to detect peaks in the presence of both variations in the intensities of spectral lines and very intense noise. The efficiency of the algorithm has been confirmed via testing with the use of a series of model spectra and spectra of Fe and Al ions recorded in experiments devoted to studies of the interaction of ultrahigh-intensity and ultrashort laser pulses with solid targets.