High Repetition Rate Femtosecond Laser Driven Hard X-Ray Source and its Application for Diffraction Experiments

Abstract

The capability of intense femtosecond pulses to create hard X-ray short-duration plasma-emitters has allowed time-resolved X-ray studies with sub-picosecond resolution in different branches of physic, material science and biology. Most of these studies were performed in a single-shot or 10 Hz regime with large multi-stage laser facilities and intensities above 10¹⁶ W/cm². For ultrashort X-ray sources to be more widely used they must operate in a more continuous regime. Most applications, that can be developed, will benefit from higher average power and high repetition rate, when low-intensity signal averaging is necessary. In the past few years there have been rapid improvements in high power Ti:sapphire femtosecond lasers systems operated at kiloherz repetition rates, some capable to generate peak intensities of 10¹⁸ W/cm² [1]. This systems are a good candidate to be used as a primary source for laser driven plasma X-ray sources.