Laser-driven high-resolution MeV x-ray tomography

Journal Article · Wed Mar 19 00:00:00 UTC 2025 · Optica

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.542536 · OSTI ID:2532474

Hollinger, Reed  ^[1]; Wang, Shoujun ^[1]; Anaraki, Sina Zahedpour ^[1]; King, James ^[1]; Zhang, Ping ^[1]; Zeraouli, Ghassan  ^[1]; Bengoa, Alejandro Figueroa ^[2]; Sheats, Matt ^[2]; Scott, Shannon ^[2]; Heidemann, Joel ^[2]; Hunter, James  ^[2]; Wang, Yong ^[1]; Edwards, Ray ^[3]; Faulkner, Matt  ^[3]; Aedy, Chris ^[3]; Rocca, Jorge J.  ^[1]; Gautier, Donald Cort  ^[4]

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1. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
3. Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Berkshire (United Kingdom)
4. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

The need for high-resolution MeV x-ray tomography to observe the three-dimensional structure of dense, large-sized objects is rapidly increasing for the non-destructive evaluation of critical additively manufactured parts, national security, and other applications. We report a demonstration of high-resolution MeV computed tomography of a dense, large object with a laser-driven x-ray source. A record detector-limited MeV radiograph resolution of < 200 µm as determined with the Bennett approximation of the point spread function was achieved by irradiating millimeter-thick tungsten targets with 300 TW femtosecond laser pulses at a 0.5 Hz repetition rate. A tungsten alloy step wedge spectrometer indicates that the peak of the x-ray emission is between 1 and 2 MeV, with an endpoint energy of 19 MeV. To illustrate the radiographic imaging capability of the system, a tomographic reconstruction of a nickel superalloy turbine blade (maximum $ρr$ = 139 g/cm²) with sub-millimeter resolution was performed using 2160 individual radiographs. The small x-ray source size opens the prospect of extremely high-resolution tomographs of large, dense objects. This laser-driven approach has major advantages for non-destructive evaluation.

• Research Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Office of Naval Research (ONR); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
• Grant/Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001; SC0021246; SC0022129; SC0025450
• OSTI ID: 2532474
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--24-31152
• Journal Information: Optica, Journal Name: Optica Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 12; ISSN 2334-2536
• Publisher: Optical Society of AmericaCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English