High-resolution 17–75keV backlighters for high energy density experiments

We have developed 17 keV to 75 keV 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional high-resolution ( 10{sup 17} W/cm{sup 2}. We have achieved high resolution point projection 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional radiography using micro-foil and micro-wire targets attached to low-Z substrate materials. The micro-wire size was 10 {micro}m x 10 {micro}m x 300 {micro}m on a 300 {micro}m x 300 {micro}m x 5 {micro}m CH substrate. The radiography performance was demonstrated using the Titan laser at LLNL. We observed that the resolution is dominated by the micro-wire target size and there is very little degradation from the plasma plume, implying that the high energy x-ray photons are generated mostly within the micro-wire volume. We also observe that there are enough K{alpha} photons created with a 300 J, 1-{omega}, 40 ps pulse laser from these small volume targets, and that the signal-to-noise ratio is sufficiently high, for single shot radiography experiments. This unique technique will be used on future high energy density (HED) experiments at the new Omega-EP, ZR and NIF facilities.