Dominant role of dielectronic satellites in the radiation spectra of a laser plasma near the target surface.

It is shown that in a dense, not very hot, multiply charged plasma the satellite structures of resonance lines can become more intense than the resonance lines themselves. Experimental and theoretical investigations show that the conditions under which the satellite structures dominate in the emission spectrum of the plasma are quite easily realized experimentally and, furthermore, apparently they will be the most typical case in investigations of compressed plasma regions in inertial-confinement fusion experiments and in the study of plasma produced by high-contrast pico- and femtosecond laser pulses. © 1997 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]