Development of Compton radiography using high-Z backlighters produced by ultra-intense lasers.

High-energy x-ray backlighters will be valuable for radiography experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and for radiography of imploded inertial confinement fusion cores using Compton scattering to observe cold, dense plasma. Key considerations are the available backlight brightness, and the backlight size. To quantify these parameters we have characterized the emission from low- and high-Z planar foils irradiated by intense picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses from the TITAN laser facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Spectra generated by a sequence of elements from Mo to Pb, spanning the x-ray energy range from 17 keV to 75 keV, have been recorded using a Charged Coupled Device (CCD) in single hit regime and a Dual Crystal Spectrometer (DCS). High-resolution point-projection 2D radiographs have also been recorded on Fuji BaFBr:Eu2 image plates using calibrated resolution grids. We discuss the results in light of the requirements for applications at NIF. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]