ULTRAFAST MATERIALS PROBING WITH THE LLNL THOMSON X-RAY SOURCE

The use of short laser pulses to generate high peak intensity, ultra-short x-ray pulses enables experimental capabilities that are otherwise unattainable. In principle, femtosecond-scale pump-probe experiments can be used to temporally resolve structural dynamics of materials on the time scale of atomic motion. Current research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is leading toward such a novel x-ray source. The system is based on a low emittance photoinjector, a 100 MeV electron RF linac, and a 300 mJ, 35 fs solid-state laser system. The Thomson source will produce ultra-fast pulses with x-ray energies capable of probing into high-Z metals. A wide range of material and plasma physics studies with unprecedented time resolution will become possible.