High-Resolution γ-Ray Radiography Produced by a Laser-Plasma Driven Electron Source

Abstract : An electron beam from a laser-plasma accelerator is converted into a γ-ray source using bremsstrahlung radiation in a dense material. The γ-ray beam has a pointlike source size because it is generated by a high quality electron beam with a small source size and a low divergence. Using this γ-ray source, the radiography of complex and dense objects with submillimeter resolution is performed. It is the first evidence of a γ-ray source size of a few hundreds micrometers produced with laser-driven accelerators. This size is consistent with results from Monte Carlo simulations.