Development of High Fluence X-Ray Sources Using Laser Heated Novel Nano-Wire Metal Foams
- Resource Type
- Conference
- Authors
- May, Mark; Kemp, Gregory; Benjamin, Russ; Poole, Patrick; Widmann, Klaus; Colvin, Jeff; Fears, Tyler; Qian, Fang; Blue, Brent
- Source
- 2021 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) Plasma Science (ICOPS), 2021 IEEE International Conference on. :1-1 Sep, 2021
- Subject
- Aerospace
Bioengineering
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Fields, Waves and Electromagnetics
General Topics for Engineers
Nuclear Engineering
Photonics and Electrooptics
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Heating systems
Laser theory
Silver
Gold
Pulse measurements
Measurement by laser beam
X-ray lasers
- Language
- ISSN
- 2576-7208
High fluence K-shell and L-shell x-ray sources are desired for various high energy density physics experiments. One efficient method for creating such a source is the laser heating of materials that are underdense to laser light. Nano-wire foams are an ideal choice for an underdense material and have average densities of 6-15 mg/cm 3 . The manufacture of robust Cu, Ag and Au nano-wire foams into millimeter scale targets is possible through a technique of freeze casting an aqueous suspension of nano-wires. Cylindrical targets with sizes between 2 to 4 mm have been shot on both the NIF and the Omega laser facilities. For example, x-ray conversion efficiencies (XRCE) from silver nano-wire foams have been measured to be ~1.0% when heated with ~400 TW of 3w laser light in a 2.5 ns square pulse from the NIF laser system. The XRCE from foam targets have been found to be ~2 times that observed in metal lined cylindrical cavity targets and ~5 times that observed in prepulsed metal foils. Experimental results and comparisons with simulations will be presented.