Measurement and unfolding of MeV x-ray spectra from high-intensity laser-solid interactions

POSTER

Abstract

During the interaction between a high-intensity laser (∼ 1021 W/cm2) and a mm-thick solid target, a population of hot electrons is generated which travel through the target and create MeV photons via bremsstrahlung radiation. Such high-energy photons are useful in imaging applications, so it is important to optimize the energy and yield of this process. At an experiment performed at the Texas Petawatt laser, the target type (bare, plastic coating, nanowires), laser energy (50 J – 140 J), and pulse duration (120 fs – 600 fs) were varied to study the effects on the produced X-ray spectra. These spectra were measured with an assortment of diagnostics measuring radiation from the front and back sides of the target surface. An advantage of several of these diagnostics is that they can function at a high repetition rate, which allows them to monitor the X-ray spectra across thousands of shots during high repetition rate applications. Here we report on the unfolded spectra from two of these diagnostics: a scintillating attenuation spectrometer and a scintillating screen with a filter array.

*This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Triad National Security, LLC, operator of the Los Alamos National Laboratory under Contract No. 89233218CNA000001 (LA-UR-23-27696), with support from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program. This work was also supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 2108075.

Presenters

  • Rebecca J Fitzgarrald

    • University of Michigan

Authors

  • Rebecca J Fitzgarrald

    • University of Michigan

  • Farhat Beg

    • University of California, San Diego
    • University of California San Diego
    • Center for Energy Research UC San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093

  • Alemayehu Bogale

    • University of California, San Diego

  • sandra a bruce

    • University of Texas
    • the Unviersity of Texas at Austin
    • university of texas at austin

  • Brandon Cage

    • Rice University
    • rice university

  • Hui A Chen

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • LLNL

  • Enam A Chowdhury

    • Ohio State Univ - Columbus

  • Timothy Coffman

    • Los Alamos National Lab
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Joshua E Coleman

    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • Thomas H Day

    • Los Alamos National Lab
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Todd Ditmire

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • elliot fang

    • Rice University
    • rice university and university of maryland

  • juan c fernandez

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • Cort C Gautier

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA

  • Chengkun Huang

    • Los Alamos Natl Lab
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA

  • Christopher E Hamilton

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • Todd Hao

    • Rice University

  • Reed C Hollinger

    • Colorado State University

  • James Hunter

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • Benjamin J Jones

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • Yongho Kim

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Marc Klasky

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL

  • Edison P Liang

    • Rice University

  • Scott V Luedtke

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Kevin D Meaney

    • LANL
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Albert J Mendez

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • La Moyne T Mix

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Ryan Nedbailo

    • Colorado State University
    • University of Texas

  • Sasi Palaniyappan

    • Los Alamos Natl Lab
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
    • Los Alamos National Lab

  • Hernan J Quevedo

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Jorge J Rocca

    • Colorado State University
    • XUV lasers and Colorado State University

  • Dean R Rusby

    • Lawrence Livermore National Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • John L Schmidt IV

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Mark J Schmitt

    • LANL

  • Alexander G Seaton

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA

  • Avneet Sood

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • michael spinks

    • University of Texas
    • the University of Texas at Austin
    • university of texas at austin

  • David Stark

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Joseph Strehlow

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Alexander G Thomas

    • University of Michigan

  • Christopher Tomkins

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • Justin Twardowski

    • The Ohio State University
    • OSU

  • Ashlyn Van Pelt

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • Chun-Shang Wong

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Lin Yin

    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • Brian J Albright

    • Los Alamos Natl Lab
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA