Broadband X-Ray Source Development with Laser Wakefield Accelerators

POSTER

Abstract

Ultrashort broadband x-ray sources are desirable for radiography of materials at pressures and temperatures often encountered in High Energy Density (HED) science experiments. Relativistic electron beams from a Self-Modulated Laser Wakefield Accelerator (SM-LWFA) provide such x-rays through three independent mechanisms: Betatron radiation (∼10keV), inverse Compton scattering (50 ∼ 300keV), and bremsstrahlung (> 1MeV). In this experiment the Titan laser (pulse energy 150J, length ∼ 1ps) produces a SM-LWFA in a 4mm He gas jet and generates a 10nC directional (∼ 100mrad) beam of electrons with energies of up to 300MeV, measured with a magnetic electron spectrometer. We measure the spectra of x-rays produced by each mechanism using differential filtering and evaluate their imaging characteristics, including source size and angular resolution, with several resolution targets.

*Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, supported by the LLNL LDRD program under tracking code 16-ERD-024, and supported by the DOE Office Science Early Career Research Program under SCW 1575-1.

Presenters

  • Matthew Thibodeau

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Rice University

Authors

  • Matthew Thibodeau

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Rice University

  • Paul Michael King

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and UT Austin

  • Jesus Hinojosa

    • University of Michigan
    • Univ of Michigan - Ann Arbor

  • Brian F Kraus

    • Princeton University
    • Princeton Plasma Physics Lab
    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

  • Kenneth A Marsh

    • Univ of California - Los Angeles

  • Nuno Lemos

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Félicie Albert

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Lab