X-ray phase contrast imaging of biological samples using a betatron x-ray source generated in a laser wakefield accelerator

Abstract

In a plasma wakefield accelerator, an intense laser pulse propagates in an under-dense plasma that drives a relativistic plasma wave in which electrons can be injected and accelerated to relativistic energies within a short distance. These accelerated electrons undergo betatron oscillation and emit a collimated X-ray beam along the direction of electron velocity. This X-ray source is characterised with a source size of the order of a micrometer, a pulse duration of the order of femtosecond, and with a high spectral brightness. This novel X-ray source provides an excellent imaging tool to achieve unprecedented high-resolution image through phase contrast imaging. The phase contrast technique has the potential to reveal structures which are invisible with the conventional absorption imaging. In the X-ray phase contrast imaging, the image contrast is obtained thanks to phase shifts induced on the X-rays passing through the sample. It involves the real part of refractive index of the object. Here we present high-resolution phase contrast X-ray images of two biological samples using laser-driven Betatron X-ray source.