The electromagnetic emission from plasmas produced by irradiating solid targets with focused light from Q-spoiled ruby lasers is recorded with grazing- and normal-incidence spectrographs as a function of plasma radius and of distance from the target The plasma density and temperature are thereby evaluated. Observed linewidths of the order of 10³ cm^-1, in the grazing-incidence region are ascribed to pressure broadening with corresponding electron densities in excess of 10²⁰ cm^-3. The thermodynamic state of the plasma is consideredA brief discussion is given of the effects of varying laser power and target preparation on the degree of ionization of the laser-produced plasma, and hence on the extension of its use as a spectroscopic source for laboratory astrophysics.