Compact tunable Compton x-ray source from laser-plasma accelerator and plasma mirror

Tsai, Hai-En; Wang, Xiaoming; Shaw, Joseph M.; Li, Zhengyan; Arefiev, Alexey V.; Zhang, Xi; Zgadzaj, Rafal; Henderson, Watson; Khudik, V.; Shvets, G.; Downer, M. C.

doi:10.1063/1.4907655

Title: Compact tunable Compton x-ray source from laser-plasma accelerator and plasma mirror

Journal Article · Fri Feb 06 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4907655· OSTI ID:1416566

^[1]; Wang, Xiaoming ^[1]; Shaw, Joseph M. ^[1]; Li, Zhengyan ^[1];

^[2]; Zhang, Xi ^[3]; Zgadzaj, Rafal ^[1]; Henderson, Watson ^[1]; Khudik, V. ^[3]; Shvets, G. ^[3]; Downer, M. C. ^[1]

Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Inst. for Fusion Studies
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics and Inst. for Fusion Studies

We present an in-depth experimental-computational study of the parameters necessary to optimize a tunable, quasi-monoenergetic, efficient, low-background Compton backscattering (CBS) x-ray source that is based on the self-aligned combination of a laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) and a plasma mirror (PM). The main findings are (1) an LPA driven in the blowout regime by 30 TW, 30 fs laser pulses produce not only a high-quality, tunable, quasi-monoenergetic electron beam, but also a high-quality, relativistically intense (a₀ ~ 1) spent drive pulse that remains stable in profile and intensity over the LPA tuning range. (2) A thin plastic film near the gas jet exit retro-reflects the spent drive pulse efficiently into oncoming electrons to produce CBS x-rays without detectable bremsstrahlung background. Meanwhile, anomalous far-field divergence of the retro-reflected light demonstrates relativistic “denting” of the PM. Exploiting these optimized LPA and PM conditions, we demonstrate quasi-monoenergetic (50% FWHM energy spread), tunable (75–200 KeV) CBS x-rays, characteristics previously achieved only on more powerful laser systems by CBS of a split-off, counter-propagating pulse. Moreover, laser-to-x-ray photon conversion efficiency (~6 × 10^-12) exceeds that of any previous LPA-based quasi-monoenergetic Compton source. Particle-in-cell simulations agree well with the measurements.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States); Tech-X Corp, Boulder, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); Robert Welch Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012444; SC0011617; SC0007889; SC0010622; FG02-04ER54742; FC52-08NA28512; FA9550-14-1-0045; EP/G056803/1; EP/G054940/1; EP/G055165/1; F-1038. H.-E.T; PHY-1354531

OSTI ID:: 1416566

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1228526

Report Number(s):: DOE-UT-12444-1

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 2; Related Information: Zhengyan Li, Hai-En Tsai, Xi Zhang, C.-H. Pai, R. Zgadzaj, X. Wang, V. Khudik, G. Shvets and M. C. DOWNER,” Single-shot optical visualization of evolving laser wakefields using an all-optical streak camera,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 085001 (2014).H.E. Tsai, X. Wang, J. M. Shaw, Z. Li, A. V. Arefiev, X. Zhang, R. Zgadzaj, W. Henderson, V. Khudik, G. Shvets, and M. C. DOWNER, “Compact tunable Compton x-ray sources from laser-plasma accelerator and plasma mirror,” Phys. Plasmas 22, 023106 (2015).H.-E. Tsai, A. V. Arefiev, J. M. Shaw, D. J. Stark, X. Wang, R. Zgadzaj, M. C. Downer, “Self-aligning concave relativistic plasma mirror with adjustable focus,” Phys. Plasmas 24, 013106 (2017).N. H. Matlis, A. Maksimchuk, Y. Yanovsky, W. P. Leemans, and M. C. Downer, "Analysis of sinusoidally-modulated chirped laser pulses by temporally-encoded spectral shifting," Opt. Lett. 41, 5503 (2016).; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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