Characterization of laser-produced miniature hohlraum XUV sources

Experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) allow the radiative properties of dense, high-temperature matter to be studied at previously unreachable regimes, but are limited by cost and system availability.~ A scaled down system using ultra-short laser pulses and delivering energy to a much smaller hohlraum could be capable of reaching comparable energy densities by~depositing the energy in a significantly smaller volume before ablation of the wall material closes the cavity.~ The laser is tightly focused through the cavity and then expands to illuminate the wall with an intensity closer to that of a long pulse laser. Experiments were performed on a number of Ti:sapphire tabletop laser system all with short pulses.~ Cavities are machined in target material using either low laser powers, and then shot in situ with a single full power pulse or using nano-fabricated targets.~ The emitted radiation is analyzed with an XUV spectrometer.~ This method may allow studies such as opacity measurements using plasma and radiation with the temperatures comparable to NIF type hohlraums, but with a significantly higher repetition rate and in a university scale system.