Investigation of a plasma mirror of an electron-beam-controlled CO2 laser with heating radiation power densities of 1011–1012 W/cm2

It is shown that when an electron-beam-controlled CO₂ laser operates in a simple single-stage scheme with a plasma mirror, the laser radiation is absorbed efficiently in the plasma. For a heating radiation power of several tens of gigawatts and a power density at the target q~10¹¹–10¹² W/cm², the electron temperature and density in the plasma mirror were T_e~200 eV and N_e~10¹⁹ cm^–3. Helium-like Mg XI ions were obtained.