Laser radiography

Ultra-short, ultra-intense laser pulses can be used to generate MeV-class x-ray photons. As a laser can be focused to a spot less than a tenth of a millimetre the source size of these x-rays promises to be of a similar size, far better than can presently be achieved with current electron beam machines. In collaboration with Imperial College, London, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory we have carried out experiments to characterise the x-ray yield, spectrum and source size on the Vulcan Laser. We also attempted a crude radiograph of a relatively thick object.