Study of second harmonic emissions for characterization of laser-plasma X-ray sources

An investigation of second harmonic (SH) and X-ray emissions from Al plasmas produced by 3-ns, 1.064-mu m laser pulses at 10(14) W/cm(2) is reported. The SH and X-ray yields are strongly correlated as a function of the target position with respect to the laser beam focus. The SH originates from the underdense coronal plasma and has a filamentary source, while the X-ray source is uniform. The results suggest that, although the X-ray emission is significantly enhanced by the filamentation of the laser light in the corona, there is a smoothing effect in the energy transport process toward the overdense region.