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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Maximizing MeV x-ray dose in relativistic laser-solid interactions

Kyle G. Miller1,*, Dean R. Rusby2, Andreas J. Kemp2, Scott C. Wilks2, and Warren B. Mori1

  • 1Departments of Physics and Astronomy and of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
  • 2Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551, USA

  • *kmill@lle.rochester.edu
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Phys. Rev. Research 5, L012044 – Published 23 March, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L012044

Abstract

Bremsstrahlung x rays generated in laser-solid interactions can be used as light sources for high-energy-density science. We present electron and x-ray spectra from multidimensional kinetic simulations with varying laser pulse intensity and duration at fixed energy of 200J. A phenomenological model for the transition from superponderomotive to ponderomotive temperatures is described, yielding a temperature scaling that depends on pulse duration and density scale length. The shortest pulses create low-divergence electron beams before self-generated magnetic fields evolve, yielding 1–5−MeV forward-going x rays containing ∼0.5% of the laser energy.

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Phys. Rev. Research 5, L012044– Published 23 March, 2023
  • Received 15 February 2022
  • Revised 27 October 2022
  • Accepted 16 February 2023
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