Effect of the laser focus position on characteristics of X-ray and ion emission from gold plasmas generated by a sub-nanosecond laser

X-ray and ion emission from gold plasma produced by a sub-nanosecond Nd:glass laser has been studies as a function of distance of the target from the best focus position. Thermal ion (kinetic energy <19 keV) signals and soft X-ray flux (photon energy >0.7 keV) measurements decrease as the target is moved closer to the best focus position in spite of an increase in laser intensity. We observe simultaneously a strong correlation between the onset of this drop in the flux of soft X-ray and the growth of harder X-ray (photon energy 3–5 keV), alongside a growth in fast ion (energy >67 keV) numbers. This is indicative of the onset of non-linear processes at the higher irradiances (～10¹⁴ W/cm²) associated with the best focus position. Our results show that when using laser plasmas as X-ray or ion sources, X-ray and ion emission in a desired spectral range can be optimized by adjusting the focusing on the target.