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1998
Journal Article
Titel
Soft x-ray emission of laser-produced plasmas using a low-debris cryogenic nitrogen target
Abstract
Laser-produced nitrogen plasmas (UPS) are intense narrow-band emitters in the "water window" spectral range which is suited for x-ray microscopy of biological samples. Frozen gases as target materials are predicted to have low debris precipitated onto laser or x-ray optics arranged inside the vacuum chamber. Gaseous nitrogen is frozen onto a metal surface at a temperature of 16 K. The solid nitrogen is illuminated with nanosecond pulsed laser radiation with intensities of 1.3 X 10 (exp 13) W/cm2 and the emission characteristics of laser-produced nitrogen plasmas are investigated with a calibrated imaging spectrograph. The x-ray emission in the water window region is compared to the radiation of a LPP with a solid boron nitride target at the same laser parameters.