High-average-power water window soft X-rays from an Ar laser plasma

Abstract A high average power of 140 mW and high conversion efficiency of 14% were demonstrated in “water window” soft X-rays generated using a laser plasma source developed in-house, when a solid Ar target was irradiated by a commercial Nd:YAG Q-switched laser with an energy of 1 J at a repetition rate of 1 Hz. This soft X-ray power compared favorably with that produced using a synchrotron radiation source, and the developed laser plasma source can be used in various applications, such as soft X-ray microscopy, in place of synchrotron facilities.