Detector characterization and electron effect for laser-driven high energy X-ray imaging

Abstract

High energy X-ray sources based on laser-wakefield accelerated electron beams have several important advantages, including high photon energy and small source size, and have many important applications such as high resolution radiography in non-destructive testing. Firstly, the thickness of electron converter is optimized with the targets Ta, W and Pb each with an optimal thickness of 2 mm. We calibrate the intrinsic spatial resolution of CsI needle-like scintillation screen, bismuth germanium oxide (BGO) scintillation array and DRZ scintillation screen with an X-ray tube. And the spatial resolution of CsI needle-like scintillation screen is as high as 8.7 lp/mm. The energy deposition responses of these three detectors to high X-ray are also simulated. Experiments show that the features of a two-layer object can be resolved up to an area density of 33.0 g/cm2 by using the high X-ray source generated by injecting laser-wakefield accelerated electron beam into a Ta convertor target. Experiment that compares X-ray radiography, mixed radiography of X-ray and electron, and electron radiography, is also carried out. Since low X-ray yield and low detection efficiency are two serious problems in high energy X-ray radiography based on laser-wakefield accelerated electron beams, we propose and prove a method of improving image signal intensity greatly at the cost of image contrast by adopting the mixed radiography of X-ray and electron.