XUV Absorption by Solid Density Aluminum

An inverse bremsstrahlung model for plasmas and simple metals that approximates the cold, solid Al experimental data below the L-edge is applied to matter conditions relevant to XUV laser applications. The model involves an all-order calculation using a semi-analytical effective electron-ion interaction. The predicted increases in XUV absorption with rising temperature occur via two effects: increased availability of final states from reduced electron degeneracy and a stronger electron-ion interaction from reduced screening. Discrepancies in the temperature dependence as well as other details between the present approach and a recently proposed absorption model are discussed.