METHOD AND SYSTEM OF LASER-DRIVEN INTENSE X-RAY PHOTONS IMAGING

• Main Authors: KIEFFER, Jean-Claude, HALLIN, Emil, FOURMAUX, Sylvain
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 30.03.2022
• Subjects: AGRICULTURE; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES, FLOWERS, RICE, FRUIT, VINES, HOPSOR SEAWEED; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; FISHING; FORESTRY; HORTICULTURE; HUMAN NECESSITIES; HUNTING; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; PHYSICS; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION; TESTING; TRAPPING; WATERING; X-RAY TECHNIQUE

A X-ray source, comprising a laser, of a pulse duration of at most 40 fs, instantaneous power of at least about 80 TW, a pulse repetition rate of at least 1 Hz; an optical compressor spectrally shaping the laser beam; focusing optics in the range between f#10 and f#15; and a gas target of electron density after ionization by the laser beam in a range between 1018 cm3 and 1019 cm−3; wherein the focusing optics focuses the laser beam in the gas target, and interaction of the focused laser beam with the gas target generates an X-ray beam, with a focused laser amplitude a0, given by a0=0.855 [IL (1018W/cm2)λL,2 (μm)]1/2, where IL is the on-target laser intensity and λL is the laser wavelength, of at least 2 and a P/Pc ratio value of at least 20, with P being the beam power and Pc a critical power given by Pc=17 (nc/n) GW where n is the electron density and nc is a critical electron density at which the plasma acts as a mirror reflecting the laser beam.