XUV diagnostics of colliding laser-produced magnesium plasmas

Charge exchange collisions between highly charged Mg ions in colliding laserproduced magnesium plasmas are studied. Pinhole photography and XUV spectroscopy are used as diagnostic tools. XUV pinhole pictures taken at early stages give more insight into the expansion dynamics of the colliding magnesium plasmas. Spectroscopic studies show selective population of the n = 3 levels of Mg IX ions which results in enhancement of respective line intensities. Theoretical calculations also give large cross section as high as 10−15 cm2 for these charge exchange collisions when the relative velocities of the colliding ions are of the order of 107 cm s−1.