Compact laser produced plasma soft x-ray source for contact microscopy experiments

The detail characteristics of a compact laser-plasma X-ray source, dedicated for application in soft X-ray contact microscopy is presented in the paper. The source is based on a double-stream gas puff target, irradiated with nanosecond laser pulses from a commercial Nd:YAG laser. The use of the gas puff target makes possible to produce soft X-ray radiation in the “water window” region without target debris production. Details of the characterization measurements and optimization of the source are presented and discussed.

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