title: A dual-channel, curved-crystal spectrograph for petawatt laser, x-ray backlighter source studies.
abstract: A dual-channel, curved-crystal spectrograph was designed to measure time-integrated x-ray spectra in the approximately 1.5 to 2 keV range (6.2-8.2 A wavelength) from small-mass, thin-foil targets irradiated by the VULCAN petawatt laser focused up to 4x10(20) W/cm(2). The spectrograph consists of two cylindrically curved potassium-acid-phthalate crystals bent in the meridional plane to increase the spectral range by a factor of approximately 10 compared to a flat crystal. The device acquires single-shot x-ray spectra with good signal-to-background ratios in the hard x-ray background environment of petawatt laser-plasma interactions. The peak spectral energies of the aluminum He(alpha) and Ly(alpha) resonance lines were approximately 1.8 and approximately 1.0 mJ/eV sr (approximately 0.4 and 0.25 J/A sr), respectively, for 220 J, 10 ps laser irradiation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, 250 East River Road, Rochester, New York 14623-1299, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Theobald
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stoeckl
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Jaanimagi
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Nilson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Storm
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Meyerhofer
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Sangster
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hey
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: MacKinnon
authors.forename: H-S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shepherd
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Snavely
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Key
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.forename: K U
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Akli
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Highbarger
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Daskalova
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Woerkom
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gregori
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lancaster
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Norreys