Development of a Laser Driven Photocathode Injector and Femtosecond Scale Laser Electron Synchronization for Next Generation Light Sources

A high brightness photoinjector has been developed at LLNL. This injector combined with the 100 TW FALCON laser and the LLNL 100 MeV S-Band RF linac will enable development of a high brightness, femtosecond-scale, tunable, hard x-ray probe for time-resolved material measurements, based on Thomson scattering. Short pulse x-rays enable time-resolved characterization of shock dynamics, and examination of materials under extremes of pressure and temperature. Examples include Equation of State characterization on high-density materials, Crystal disorganization and re-growth in shocked and heated materials, and measurement of short time scale phase transition phenomena. Single shot evaluation, requiring high peak flux, is important for complex experiments such as probing of laser shocked actinides. A low emittance electron beam synchronized with femtosecond accuracy to an intense laser will revolutionize x-ray dynamics studies of materials. This project will lead development of ultrafast x-ray dynamics research on problems important in physics, chemistry, biology, and materials