Laser wakefield acceleration and x-ray emission in plasma produced by the electrical explosion of an aluminum wire

Underdense plasmas used in relativistic laser-plasma interactions are conventionally produced from gaseous targets, whereas low-density metallic plasmas remain comparatively unexplored. Here, we investigate the interaction of a femtosecond petawatt laser with expanded aluminum plasma using particle-in-cell simulations based on an experimentally motivated exploding-wire density profile. Three-dimensional simulations show that the laser propagates through the low-density metallic plasma, drives a pronounced wake-like structure, accelerates electrons to near-GeV energies, and produces directional broadband x-ray emission. Charge-state-resolved diagnostics further show that electrons associated with higher aluminum ionization stages are disproportionately represented in the energetic population. Complementary two-dimensional simulations indicate that the net electron energy gain is dominated by longitudinal electric-field work and show that relativistic electron generation persists under variations of the assumed initial ionization and density conditions, although the yield remains quantitatively sensitive to the plasma state. These results demonstrate the feasibility of electrically exploded aluminum plasma as a target platform for laser wakefield acceleration and associated x-ray generation.