Mev X rays and photoneutrons from femtosecond laser-produced plasmas

We demonstrate a novel method to monitor the total angular distribution of the spectrum of hard x-ray emission from a plasma generated with femtosecond laser pulses with an intensity of 5 x 10(18) W/cm2 on a solid target. Measured and calculated angular distributions of x rays show a pronounced anisotropy for MeV photon energies. We complemented the spectral information by demonstrating a (gamma,n) nuclear reaction with a tabletop laser system.