Quasi-monoenergetic and tunable X-rays from a laser-driven Compton light source

N. D. Powers, I. Ghebregziabher, G. Golovin, C. Liu, S. Chen, S. Banerjee, J. Zhang, D. P. Umstadter

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

311 Scopus citations

Abstract

The maximum achievable photon energy of compact, conventional, Compton-scattering X-ray sources is currently limited by the maximum permissible field gradient of conventional electron accelerators. An alternative compact Compton X-ray source architecture with no such limitation is based instead on a high-field-gradient laser-wakefield accelerator. In this case, a single high-power (100 TW) laser system generates intense laser pulses, which are used for both electron acceleration and scattering. Although such all-laser-based sources have been demonstrated to be bright and energetic in proof-of-principle experiments, to date they have lacked several important distinguishing characteristics of conventional Compton sources. We now report the experimental demonstration of all-laser-driven Compton X-rays that are both quasi-monoenergetic (∼50% full-width at half-maximum) and tunable (∼70 keV to >1 MeV). These performance improvements are highly beneficial for several important X-ray radiological applications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)28-31
Number of pages4
JournalNature Photonics
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2014

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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