UCLA

Many laser-based high-energy-density science (HEDS) facilities have one or more short-pulse (sub- to few-picosecond) laser beams for diagnostics. For the past decade, we have been developing a novel x-ray probing capability using such picosecond lasers interacting with an underdense plasma to produce relativistic electrons. The ultimate goal of these experiments is to demonstrate a new type of x-ray backlighter using the short-pulse ARC laser at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Before this diagnostic is fielded at the NIF, it is critical to demonstrate the viability and reproducibility of the x-ray source on comparable high-power short-pulse laser systems. We present experiments that were carried out with the OMEGA EP laser at the University of Rochester’s laboratory for laser energetics. In these experiments, high-energy electrons are produced through a combination of the self-modulation instability and direct laser acceleration in an underdense gas jet. These electrons generate directional x-rays with characteristic energies up to several tens of keV as they execute betatron motion in the ion channel, and the inverse Compton scattering process generates even harder x-rays, with characteristic photon energies of 60–240 keV. When implemented on the OMEGA EP laser(s), this x-ray source yields results that are comparable to those obtained recently on the short-pulse Titan laser at the Jupiter Laser Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, after accounting for differences in laser energy, peak intensity, focusing f/#, and plasma source. Applications of such an x-ray source for HEDS experiments are discussed.