We present the recent progress done at the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS) on the development of a Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) based X-ray machine. We will describe the pathway we follow to progress towards an industrial solution guided by the concept of Solution Readiness Level (SRL) metric. Two different approaches have been recently studied and assessed to optimize the X-ray beam in the 20keV - 50keV range. This paves the way to the development of a laser-based X-ray machine addressing, with different working points, various strategic challenges. We discuss in the present work the usefulness of the various operational approaches for some aspects of Global Food Security and for the realization of mammography with dose well below the actual clinical standard.
We review the results obtained with the INRS laser system on the scaling of X-ray sources based on laser wake-field acceleration (LWFA) of electrons. We have successfully generated stable propagation in gas jets of a relativistic pulse through self-guiding on length well larger than the classical LWFA dephasing and depletion lengths, generating very intense beams of hard X-rays with 200TW on target. Our experimental scaling law obtained for the photon yield is presented and the level of X-ray emission in a 30keV-40keV band at the 1PW laser peak power level, now available at several laser facilities, is estimated.
Compact optical sources of radiation with high average power are needed for many applications from sensing to imaging and spectroscopy. The control of non-linear effects during the propagation of intense ultra-short laser pulses in various gas allows the generation of novel very intense radiation beams which can be used for sensing and imaging. We discussed non-linear effects during ultrafast laser beam propagation in two very different interaction regimes, long distance propagation in ambient air and short distance propagation at very high intensity and in high density gas, obtained with high peak and high average power laser systems.
We describe our system for generating intense beams of hard X-rays optimized for high throughput phase contrast plant imaging and rapid identification of phenotype in a plant production setting. High peak and average power X-ray beams are generated in a novel regime of ultra-relativistic self-guiding. X-ray beams at 40keV with 4μJ per pulse (30keV – 40keV band) and an average power of 10μW (30keV – 40keV band) are currently produced and used to demonstrate the potential of the LWFA based X-ray sources.
We present the development of a high throughput phase contrast screening system based on LWFA Xray
sources for plant imaging. We upgraded the INRS laser-betatron beam line and we illustrate its
imaging potential through the innovative development of new tools for addressing issues relevant to
global food security. This initiative, led by the Global Institute of Food Security (GIFS) at the U of
Saskatchewan, aims to elucidate that part of the function that maps environmental inputs onto specific
plant phenotypes. The prospect of correlating phenotypic expression with adaptation to environmental
stresses will provide researchers with a new tool to assess breeding programs for crops meant to thrive
under the climate extremes.
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