Compact laser-driven plasma X-ray source for time-resolved diffraction, spectroscopy, and imaging experiments at ELI Beamlines

Abstract

Experimentally measured characteristics of a kHz laser-driven Cu plasma X-ray source that was recently commissioned at ELI Beamlines facility are reported. The source can be driven either by an in-house developed high contrast sub-20 fs near-infrared TW laser based on optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification technology, or by a more conventional Ti:sapphire laser delivering 12 mJ, 45 fs pulses. The X-ray source parameters obtained with the two driving lasers are compared. Measured photon flux of the order up to 10^{12} Kα photons/4π/s is reported. Furthermore, experimental platforms for ultrafast X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption and/or emission spectroscopy based on the reported source are described.