X-ray and gamma ray emission from petawatt laser-driven nanostructured metal targets

ORAL

Abstract

Nano-wire arrays of nickel and gold have been fired at the Orion laser facility using high contrast 1$\omega $ and 2$\omega $ short pulse beams (0.7 ps pulse length, \textgreater 10$^{\mathrm{20}}$ W cm$^{\mathrm{-2}}$ intensity). Time-resolved and time-integrated K-shell and M-shell emission have been characterized and compared to those of flat foils, investigating the capability of these metamaterial coatings to enhance laser-target coupling and X-ray emission. Bremsstrahlung emission of gamma rays and associated pair production via the Bethe-Heitler process have also been investigated by use of 1 mm-thick gold substrates attached to the gold nanowires. We present our latest experimental data and outline some potential future applications.

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Authors

  • Matthew Hill

    • AWE, UK

  • Peter Allan

    • AWE, UK

  • Colin Brown

    • AWE, UK

  • David Hoarty

    • AWE, UK

  • Lauren Hobbs

    • AWE, UK

  • Steven James

    • AWE, UK

  • Clayton Bargsten

    • Colorado State University, USA

  • Reed Hollinger

    • Colorado State University, USA

  • Jorge Rocca

    • Colorado State University, USA

  • Jaebum Park

    • LLNL, USA

  • Hui Chen

    • LLNL, USA

  • Richard London

    • LLNL, USA

  • Ronnie Shepherd

    • LLNL, USA

  • Riccardo Tommasini

    • LLNL, USA

  • Sam Vinko

    • University of Oxford, UK

  • Justin Wark

    • University of Oxford, UK

  • Robin Marjoribanks

    • University of Toronto, Canada

  • David Neely

    • RAL, UK

  • Chris Spindloe

    • RAL, UK