All-laser-driven,MeV-energyX-ray要点.PDFVIP

All-laser-driven, MeV-energy X-ray source for detection of SNM Sudeep Banerjee, Nathan Powers, Vidya Ramanathan, Nathaniel Cunningham, Nate Chandler-Smith, Shouyuan Chen, Bradley Shadwick and Donald Umstadter Department of Physics and Astronomy, University ofNebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588 Randy Vane, Dave Schultz, Jim Beene, and Sara Pozzi12 OakRidge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008 MS6372, Oak Ridge TN 37831-6372 2Department ofNuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University ofMichigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. A quasi-monoenergetic MeV x-ray source based on laser-driven electron acceleration and Thomson scattering is under development at the Extreme Light Laboratory at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Reported are experimental results on the generation of high- brightness, nearly monoenergetic 300-MeV energy electron beams with the high power, short-pulse DIOCLES laser system. The laser system produces 100 TW of maximum peak power per pulse. The maximum pulse energy is 3.5 J with a temporal duration of 30 fs. Energetic electron beams are produced by focusing a laser pulse with 40-50-TW peak-power on a supersonic helium nozzle to drive a relativistic plasma wave (laser wakefield). Electron beams with energies of 320 ± 2OMeV are accelerated over a distance of 3 mm. The beam has an angular spread of 5 mrad with a charge of 100 pC. The use of a stable and well-characterized laser systemin conjunction with high temporal contrast and adaptive optics correction on the amplified beam (to obtain ideal focal spots) has enabled generation of very reproducible electron beams, both in terms of energy and pointing stability. It is found that electron acceleration is most efficient, beam brightness is highest and reproducibility is best in the resonant regime, where the temporal duration of the laser pulse equals the plasma perio