A Laser-Wakefield-Acceleration based Thomson Source for Medical Imaging

The combination of laser wakefield acceleration and intense laser pulses is capable of providing a very compact and versatile source of X-rays. X-rays in the 50-100 keV energy range are of particular interest, by having high enough energy to penetrate through soft tissue while being absorbed by gold nanoparticles. Experiments and developments towards such a source for X-ray fluorescence imaging (XFI) are presented, including the calibration of non-invasive, cavity based charge diagnostics. Further, different techniques to determine the emittance as well as the design of the gas target infrastructure and feedback-based optimization of the pulse shape are presented.