Demonstration of spectrally resolved x-ray scattering in dense plasmas

Phys Rev Lett. 2003 May 2;90(17):175002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.175002. Epub 2003 May 2.

Abstract

We present the first spectrally resolved x-ray scattering measurements from solid-density plasmas. The scattering spectra show the broadened Compton down-shifted feature allowing us to determine the electron temperature and density with high accuracy. In the low temperature limit, our data indicate that the ionization balance reflects the electrons in the conduction band consistent with calculations that include quantum mechanical corrections to the interaction potential.