Spectral and radiative characterization of multi-keV X-ray sources

K-shell emission line sources were generated using laser-irradiated targets for various high-Z materials including Zn (Z$=$30), Ge (Z$=$32), Br (Z$=$35), Rb (Z$=$37), Zr (Z$=$40), Mo (Z$=$42) and Ag (Z$=$47). The plasma x-ray emission was spectrally characterized using temporally resolved and time-integrated x-ray spectrometers, providing absolute x-ray fluence and time-integrated K-shell emission brightness. Targets were driven with up to 60 kJ of 3$\omega $ laser light leading to irradiance on target ranging from (0.5 to 18)x10$^{15}$ W/cm$^{2}$. The He-like resonance 1s$^{2}$-1s2p(1P) and intercombination 1s$^{2}$-1s2p(3P) and satellite transitions dominated the spectrum for all the elements except Ag, which emitted K-alpha light. T$_{\mathrm{e}}$ and n$_{\mathrm{e}}$ profiles from hydrodynamic simulations were used to evaluate detailed atomic models, providing comparison between calculated and absolute time-integrated measured line profiles and continuum levels. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.