X-ray Thomson scattering as a temperature probe for Gbar shock experiments

Abstract

In X-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS), spectrally-resolved spectrometry of probe x-rays scattered from matter gives an elastic (ionic) and an inelastic (electronic) feature, whose location, width, and amplitude can be analyzed for electron density and temperature. This diagnostic is complementary to traditional, mechanical EOS measurements which do not directly constrain temperature. XRTS has been demonstrated on planar dynamic-loading experiments at the Omega laser, and a spectrometer has been constructed for use at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). We plan to obtain XRTS measurements into the Gbar regime using hohlraum-driven converging shocks at NIF. In these experiments, the radial profile through the sample at any instant of time varies greatly, though the XRTS signal is dominated by the densest region, which is close to the shock front where simultaneous radiography obtains an EOS measurement.