Intense high repetition rate Mo Kα x-ray source generated from laser solid interaction for imaging application

We report an efficient Mo K alpha x-ray source produced by interaction of femtosecond Ti: sapphire laser pulses with a solid Molybdenum target working at 1 kHz repetition rate. The generated Mo K alpha x-ray intensity reaches to 4.7 x 10(10) photons sr(-1) s(-1), corresponding to an average power of 0.8 mW into 2 pi solid angle. The spatial resolution of this x-ray source is measured to be 26 lp/mm. With the high flux and high spatial resolution characteristics, high resolving in-line x-ray radiography was realized on test objects and large size biological samples within merely half a minute. This experiment shows the possibility of laser plasma hard x-ray source as a new low cost and high resolution system for radiography and its ability of ultrafast x-ray pump-probe study of matter. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.