Penumbral imaging for measurement of the ablation density in laser-driven targets

One-dimensional (1D) penumbral imaging technique with high spatial resolution has been developed, and applied to density profile measurements in laser-driven Rayleigh-Taylor instability experiments at a GEKKO XII-HIPER laser system. A laser-irradiated planar target was observed with side-on x-ray backlighting. A penumbral image of an x-ray radiograph was made by using a knife-edge imager. The x-ray radiograph was, then, reconstructed by differentiating the penumbral image with a proper Wiener filtering. A density profile was deduced from the reconstructed x-ray radiograph. In a proof-of-principle experiment, the density profile of a polystyrene (PS) target before laser irradiation was measured by using this method, and high spatial resolution of 3-4 mum was demonstrated. A laser-irradiated PS target in the acceleration phase was observed. The experimentally observed density profile was found to be consistent with the prediction by a 1D hydrodynamic simulation code. The x-ray penumbral imaging is a very simple and useful technique with high spatial resolution for research in hydrodynamics relevant to inertial fusion energy. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.