Investigation of the foreplasma parameters of a laser-plasma diode

The results of computing experiments are presented, which allow estimating the parameters of the laser foreplasma used to initiate a discharge in a laser-plasma diode. The resultant plasma is a material medium which carries a high-power discharge current. This opens a possibility to make a compact source of hard X-ray radiation and fast-ion streams. Proceeding from our numerical simulations we derive similarity relations, which enable determining the fluxes of plasma mass and charge as functions of laser pulse parameters.