Space- and time-resolved density measurements of a high-intensity laser-produced plasma for x-ray laser studies.

We present a detailed study on the spatiotemporal density evolution of a plasma created by optical-field ionization of a high-pressure pulsed gas jet by a 10-TW, 60-fs Ti:sapphire laser. The plasma dynamics has been studied on a 17-ns time scale with a 60-fs time resolution and a 5-microm space resolution using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The density profile and the plasma radial expansion were accurately measured for conditions relevant to x-ray laser schemes in H-like nitrogen which were recently proposed [S. Hulin et al., Phys. Rev. E 61, 5693 (2000)]. The results were reproduced well by hydrocode simulations that allowed to infer the plasma temperature.