X-ray phase-contrast imaging for laser-induced shock waves

¹ Dipartimento SBAI, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” - Via Antonio Scarpa 14, 00161, Roma, Italy
² York Plasma Institute, Department of Physics, University of York - York, YO10 5DQ, UK
³ Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology - Überlandstrasse 129, CH8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
⁴ Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, CEA, CELIA (Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications), UMR 5107 F-33405 Talence, France
⁵ University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) Donostia/San Sebastin, Basque Country, Spain
⁶ CLPU, Centro de Láseres Pulsados - Edificio M5, Parque Científico, C/Adaja, 8, 37185 Villamayor, Salamanca, Spain
⁷ Universidad de Salamanca - Patio de Escuelas 1, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
⁸ GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH - Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany
⁹ Goethe-Universität Frankfurt - Max-von-Laue-Straße 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
¹⁰ National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Department of Plasma Physics - Moscow, Russia

Received: 5 October 2018
Accepted: 28 January 2019

Abstract

X-ray phase-contrast imaging (XPCI) is a versatile technique with applications in many fields, including fundamental physics, biology and medicine. Where X-ray absorption radiography requires high density ratios for effective imaging, the image contrast for XPCI is a function of the density gradient. In this letter, we apply XPCI to the study of laser-driven shock waves. Our experiment was conducted at the Petawatt High-Energy Laser for Heavy Ion EXperiments (PHELIX) at GSI. Two laser beams were used: one to launch a shock wave and the other to generate an X-ray source for phase-contrast imaging. Our results suggest that this technique is suitable for the study of warm dense matter (WDM), inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and laboratory astrophysics.