Developing Predictive Modeling of Laser-Plasma Interactions for X-ray Radiographic Imaging

Novel MeV x-ray sources based on high-power short-pulse lasers have the potential to revolutionize radiography with their small spot size, short pulse duration, low cost, and flexibility. In this poster, we report on multiphysics modeling of experiments to produce MeV x-rays. Our goal is to develop a predictive simulation capability to aid in the development of x-ray radiographic technologies. Using particle-in-cell and Monte-Carlo particle-transport codes, we simulate electron acceleration in short-pulse laser experiments with a variety of targets and calculate photon spectra resulting from bremsstrahlung radiation in a high-Z converter. We find that common figures of merit (e.g. laser absorption fraction) may not directly translate to desired experimental outputs (MeV x-rays). We discuss challenges of performing predictive simulations and ways to address those challenges.