Efficient multi-keV X-ray sources from laser-exploded metallic thin foils

Journal Article · Mon Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2973480· OSTI ID:21269058

Babonneau, D; Primout, M; Girard, F; Jadaud, J -P; Naudy, M; Villette, B; Depierreux, S; Blancard, C; Faussurier, G ^[1]; Fournier, K B; Suter, L; Kauffman, R; Glenzer, S ^[2]; Miller, M C ^[3]; Gruen, J ^[4]; Davis, J ^[5]

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1. Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, Centre Ile de France, Bruyeres-le-Chatel, 91297 Arpajon (France)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
3. Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
4. Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Avenue, Southwest, Washington DC 20375 (United States)
5. ALME and Associates, 6020 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, Virginia 22303 (United States)

A set of materials--titanium, copper, and germanium--has been experimented with at the OMEGA laser facility [Boehly, Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] by irradiating thin foils with a prepulse prior to a main pulse with variable delay, in order to design efficient x-ray laser-sources for backlighting, material testing, and code validation. This concept led to increasing factors from 2 to 4 comparing to cases without prepulse, in the experimental conditions. As a result, high multi-keV x-ray conversion rates have been obtained: 9% for titanium around 4 keV, 1% for copper around 8 keV, and 2.5 to 3% for germanium around 10 keV, which places these pre-exploded metallic targets close to the gas with respect to their performance, with wider energy range. A good agreement with hydroradiative code FCI2[Schurtz, Phys. Plasmas 7, 4238 (2000)] calculations is found for titanium and copper on all diagnostics, with nonlocal-thermal-equilibrium atomic physics and, either nonlocal thermal conduction taking self-generated B-fields into account, or limited thermal conduction with intensity-dependent factor f. The results for germanium indicate that dielectronic processes could play a more significant role when higher irradiation intensity on higher Z material.

• OSTI ID: 21269058
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 15, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2973480; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COPPER
GERMANIUM
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
PLASMA SIMULATION
THERMAL CONDUCTION
THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM
THIN FILMS
TITANIUM
X-RAY LASERS
X-RAY SOURCES