Compact high-flux X-ray source based on irradiation of solid targets by gigahertz and megahertz bursts of femtosecond laser pulses

Abstract

In this study, we demonstrate the significant increase in the hard X-ray yield (more than 1011 photons/s in 4π solid angle in 6 - 40 keV range) that can be achieved in an ambient air environment when solid targets are irradiated by sequences of high average power (90 W) bursts of femtosecond laser pulses, generated in GHz burst laser amplifier operated at high repetition rate (100 kHz). The combination of the prepulse and ∼ 10 times greater driving pulse not only enhances X-ray generation efficiency (∼ 10−6) by more than two orders of magnitude compared to the single pulse regime but also protects a target allowing continuous operation for 3 hours with only 30% predictable and gradual drop of X-ray yield. In addition, we show that X-ray yield enhancement becomes around 6 times more pronounced at higher repetition rates (100 kHz compared to < 5 kHz). The simplicity and relative cost-effectiveness of the presented X-ray source makes it an attractive solution for future applications in ultrafast X-ray imaging and spectroscopy.