Application of imaging plates to x-ray imaging and spectroscopy in laser plasma experiments (invited)

We report recent progress in x-ray diagnosis of laser-plasma experiments using imaging plates. Imaging plates are photostimulable phosphor screens [BaF(Br0.85, I0.15): Eu2+] deposited on flexible metal or plastic substrates. We applied imaging plates to x-ray microscopy of inertial confinement fusion experiments. Self-emission x-ray images of imploded cores were obtained successfully with high-magnification, target-mounted pinholes using imaging plates as detectors. Imaging plates were also used in ultraintense laser experiments at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, where small samarium foils were irradiated by high intensity laser pulses from the Vulcan laser system. K-shell x rays from the foil (similar to 40 keV) were used as a line x-ray source for one-dimensional microscopic radiography, and the performance of imaging plates on high-energy x-ray backlit radiography experiments was demonstrated by imaging sinusoidal grooves of 6 mu m amplitude on a Au foil. Detailed K-shell spectra from Cu targets were also obtained by coupling an imaging plate with a highly ordered pyrolytic graphite crystal spectrometer. The performance of the imaging plates as evaluated in actual laser plasma experiments is presented. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics