Bragg diffraction using a 100 ps 17.5 keV x-ray backlighter and the Bragg diffraction imager.

A new diagnostic for measuring Bragg diffraction of petawatt-generated high-energy x rays off a laser-compressed crystal was designed and tested successfully at the Omega EP laser facility on static Mo and Ta (111) oriented single crystal samples using a 17.5 keV Mo Kα backlighter. The Bragg diffraction imager consists of a heavily shielded enclosure and a precisely positioned beam block attached to the enclosure by an aluminum arm. Fuji image plates are used as the x-ray detectors. The diffraction from Mo and Ta (222) crystal planes was clearly detected with a high signal-to-noise. This technique will be applied to shock- and quasi-isentropically loaded single crystals on the Omega EP laser.