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Title: Bremsstrahlung hard x-ray source driven by an electron beam from a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator

Abstract

An x-ray source generated by an electron beam produced using a Self-Modulated Laser Wakefield Accelerator (SM-LWFA) is explored for use in high energy density science facilities. By colliding the electron beam, with a maximum energy of 380 MeV, total charge of >10 nC and a divergence of 64 x 100 mrad, from a SM-LWFA driven by a 1ps 120 J laser, into a high-Z foil, an x/gamma-ray source was generated. A broadband bremsstrahlung energy spectrum with temperatures ranging from 0.8 to 2 MeV was measured with an almost 2 orders of magnitude flux increase when compared with other schemes using LWFA. GEANT4 simulations were done to calculate the source size and divergence.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [6];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [5]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics
  3. ELI-ALPS, Szeged (Hungary)
  4. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
  5. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  6. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1542711
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-742935
Journal ID: ISSN 0741-3335; 897945
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-07NA27344
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 60; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 0741-3335
Publisher:
IOP Science
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

Lemos, N., Albert, F., Shaw, J. L., Papp, D., Polanek, R., King, P., Milder, A. L., Marsh, K. A., Pak, A., Pollock, B. B., Hegelich, B. M., Moody, J. D., Park, J., Tommasini, R., Williams, G. J., Chen, Hui, and Joshi, C. Bremsstrahlung hard x-ray source driven by an electron beam from a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1088/1361-6587/aab3b5.
Lemos, N., Albert, F., Shaw, J. L., Papp, D., Polanek, R., King, P., Milder, A. L., Marsh, K. A., Pak, A., Pollock, B. B., Hegelich, B. M., Moody, J. D., Park, J., Tommasini, R., Williams, G. J., Chen, Hui, & Joshi, C. Bremsstrahlung hard x-ray source driven by an electron beam from a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/aab3b5
Lemos, N., Albert, F., Shaw, J. L., Papp, D., Polanek, R., King, P., Milder, A. L., Marsh, K. A., Pak, A., Pollock, B. B., Hegelich, B. M., Moody, J. D., Park, J., Tommasini, R., Williams, G. J., Chen, Hui, and Joshi, C. Thu . "Bremsstrahlung hard x-ray source driven by an electron beam from a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/aab3b5. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1542711.
@article{osti_1542711,
title = {Bremsstrahlung hard x-ray source driven by an electron beam from a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator},
author = {Lemos, N. and Albert, F. and Shaw, J. L. and Papp, D. and Polanek, R. and King, P. and Milder, A. L. and Marsh, K. A. and Pak, A. and Pollock, B. B. and Hegelich, B. M. and Moody, J. D. and Park, J. and Tommasini, R. and Williams, G. J. and Chen, Hui and Joshi, C.},
abstractNote = {An x-ray source generated by an electron beam produced using a Self-Modulated Laser Wakefield Accelerator (SM-LWFA) is explored for use in high energy density science facilities. By colliding the electron beam, with a maximum energy of 380 MeV, total charge of >10 nC and a divergence of 64 x 100 mrad, from a SM-LWFA driven by a 1ps 120 J laser, into a high-Z foil, an x/gamma-ray source was generated. A broadband bremsstrahlung energy spectrum with temperatures ranging from 0.8 to 2 MeV was measured with an almost 2 orders of magnitude flux increase when compared with other schemes using LWFA. GEANT4 simulations were done to calculate the source size and divergence.},
doi = {10.1088/1361-6587/aab3b5},
journal = {Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion},
number = 5,
volume = 60,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Mar 22 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Thu Mar 22 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Cited by: 23 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Experimental setup for generating Bremsstrahlung radiation from relativistic electrons produced by SM-LWFA at the Jupiter Laser Facility using the Titan Laser. The Titan laser (red beam) is focused by an OAP into a 4 mm supersonic gas jet. The probe beam (green) crosses the plasma generated by themore » main beam and goes into a folded interferometer. An example of an interferogram is shown next to the interferometer. The bright region in the center of the interferogram is due to the radiation produced by the rapidly accelerating electrons (33). The electrons (grey line) collide with a foil (Ta or W) to generate the hard xray beam and are dispersed by the 1T magnet centered on the laser axis (12 cm from the source inside the target chamber) and recorded by an image plate. An example of the electron spectrum recorded at image plate 1 (IP1) is shown. A lead wall with an opening of 10x5 cm is placed 80 cm after the gas jet to block the background noise generated inside the chamber. At the exit of the vacuum chamber, the hard x-rays go through an Aluminum and Mylar filter. After exiting the vacuum chamber, the photons (brown line) propagate through 36 step wedge filters onto image plate 2 (IP2).« less

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