DOE OSTI · 2532474
Laser-driven high-resolution MeV x-ray tomography
Abstract
The need for high-resolution MeV x-ray tomography to observe the three-dimensional structure of dense, large-sized objects is rapidly increasing for the non-destructive evaluation of critical additively manufactured parts, national security, and other applications. We report a demonstration of high-resolution MeV computed tomography of a dense, large object with a laser-driven x-ray source. A record detector-limited MeV radiograph resolution of < 200 µm as determined with the Bennett approximation of the point spread function was achieved by irradiating millimeter-thick tungsten targets with 300 TW femtosecond laser pulses at a 0.5 Hz repetition rate. A tungsten alloy step wedge spectrometer indicates that the peak of the x-ray emission is between 1 and 2 MeV, with an endpoint energy of 19 MeV. To illustrate the radiographic imaging capability of the system, a tomographic reconstruction of a nickel superalloy turbine blade ( maximum $ρr$ = 139 g/cm 2 ) with sub-millimeter resolution was performed using 2160 individual radiographs. The small x-ray source size opens the prospect of extremely high-resolution tomographs of large, dense objects. This laser-driven approach has major advantages for non-destructive evaluation.
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Hollinger, Reed [Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000319558840), Wang, Shoujun [Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)], Anaraki, Sina Zahedpour [Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)], King, James [Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)], Zhang, Ping [Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)], Zeraouli, Ghassan [Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000297946075), Bengoa, Alejandro Figueroa [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)], Sheats, Matt [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)], Scott, Shannon [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)], Heidemann, Joel [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)], Hunter, James [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000196730531), Wang, Yong [Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)], Edwards, Ray [Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Berkshire (United Kingdom)], Faulkner, Matt [Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Berkshire (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000181722918), Aedy, Chris [Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Berkshire (United Kingdom)], Rocca, Jorge J. [Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000283496907), Gautier, Donald Cort [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)] (ORCID:000000017778311X). 2025-03-19. Laser-driven high-resolution MeV x-ray tomography. https://doi.org/10.1364/optica.542536
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