Novel X-Ray Sources Based on Nano-Structured Targets

Recently, the development of ultra-fast probing with x-ray sources for plasma diagnostics as well as isochoric heating is now of great interest to the field of high energy density science. Particularly the study of transport properties of dense plasmas in relevance to astrophysical phenomena and inertial confinement fusion is og a great interest. Laser-driven K-alpha sources have proven to be excellent x-ray probes for laser experiments, however, due to relatively low conversion efficiency in comparison to He-alpha and Ly-alpha sources, their applicability has been limited. Recent studies have shown that adding micro-scale structures to the laser-driven solid foils generating the x-rays can significantly enhance the flux of such sources. Different structures appear to have different effects on the resultant plasma ranging from modification of the resultant electron spectra to volumetric heating and hydrodynamic effects, but much of these mechanisms remain poorly understood.