The hard X-ray (>30 keV) continuum from the interaction of a Ti:sapphire/KrF intense femtosecond UV laser (50 mJ, 440 fs, 10 Hz at 248 nm) with a solid has been measured; the intensity on the target is up to 1017 W/cm2. The X-ray with energy of 200 keV has been observed; the temperature of the hot electron from fitting the spectrum utilizing Maxwellian distribution is 67 keV. This is the first measurement of hard X-rays from femtosecond KrF laser–solid interaction.

The present measurements of the components' surface resistance to laser-induced damage has been completed to facilitate development and construction of the “Luch” laser system, a four-channel Nd-phosphate glass laser with a full output energy of E = 14–16 kJ. The study describes a method that, with a series of experimental data obtained from a single sample, allows us not only to estimate the threshold fluences, but to take into account the statistical nature of the surface damage. In a number of experimental situations this method makes it possible to estimate damaging fluences even from the result of a single exposure of the studied surface. Estimated threshold fluences for various optical elements are presented: K8 glass, experimental phosphate laser glass KGSS-0180, high-reflecting and antireflecting thin-film coating of elements. The 1.054-μm radiation pulse with half-height duration of 4 ns and the irradiation spot of ∼4 mm in diameter were used in the experiment.

In this work, a new analytical potential for studying ions in excited configurations is presented, which is built up from a parametric potential for ions in a ground state. It is used to calculate atomic magnitudes of special importance in plasmas such as total energies, energy levels, and transition energies, for ions in excited configurations. The results are successfully compared with those obtained with both self-consistent or analytical models.

In this work, the Saha equation is solved using atomic data provided by means of a new relativistic-screened hydrogenic model based on analytical potentials to calculate the ionization state and ion abundance for LTE iron plasmas. The plasma effects on the atomic structure are taken into account by including the classical continuum lowering correction of Stewart and Pyatt. For high density, the Saha equation is modified to consider the degeneration of free electrons using the Fermi–Dirac statistics instead of the Maxwellian distribution commonly used. The results are compared with more sophisticated self-consistent codes.

In this work, we study the laser propagation in a thermonuclear plasma corresponding to implosion of deuterium-tritium pellets in inertial confinement fusion, by injecting energy provided by high-power laser devices into a quiescent plasma and generating solitons. Having in mind that the electric field inside of plasma can be studied by means of a particular non-linear Schrödinger equation, we solve this equation as an inverse problem, using the Inverse Scattering Transform method, that is a 2 × 2 eigenvalue problem, known as the AKNS scheme, developed by Ablovitz, Kamp, Newell, and Shabat. We obtain the pseudopotentials q and r if we suppose that the eigenvalue is invariant in time, and is representative of a wave eigenvector, obtaining a solution that has a structure of the soliton type. In the process, one change of variable for space and another for time are applied, and the relation between the pseudopotentials is given by r = −q*. Discretization of the non-linear Schrödinger equation, solved by inverse scattering transform are given by Ablovitz et al. (1999). These solitons are generated near the critical layer where w0 ≅ wp, w0 being the laser frequency and wp the plasma frequency, exhibit a change in electronic density profile and are caused by the ponderomotive force of laser radiation.