Diagnostics of a CO2 laser plasma at input energies typical of plasma heating conditions in the Maxilac heavy-ion accelerator

Spectroscopic techniques were employed to measure the electron density and temperature of a plasma produced by a CO₂ laser at input energies close to those achieved in experiments on plasma heating by heavy ion beams in the Maxilac accelerator. The density was ~ (1–2) X 10¹⁷ cm^–3, whereas the temperature was approximately 20–30 eV near the maximum of the heating radiation pulse and ~ 3 eV after the end of the pulse.