Laser-produced plasma stigmatic observations in the extreme ultraviolet by means of a CCD detector

Observations of the emission from laser-produced plasmas of carbon, aluminum and tungsten have been performed by means of a vacuum normalincidence stigmatic spectrograph. The detector used is a Peltier-cooled CCD, particularly treated so to be sensitive in the vacuum ultraviolet spectral range. The presented results include the spectrum emitted, in the range from 380 to 800 Å, with spectral and spatial profiles along the expanding plasmas and absolute measurements of the plasma brightness. The measurements show an outstanding capability of this type of detector, in terms of sensitivity, resolution and dynamic range, with respect to traditional devices, for UV detection, as photographic film, intensified linear arrays and scintillator coated CCDs.