Development of Compton radiography using multi-pulse high-Z backlighters*

Radiography of the cold dense fuel will be a valuable diagnostic for imploding inertial confinement fusion targets at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). For x-rays with energies between 30 and 200 keV, the main opacity will be Compton scattering. We report on experiments to characterize x-ray emission from low- to high-Z planar foils irradiated by intense picosecond laser pulses. Spectra generated by a sequence of elements from Mo to Pb, with line and continuum emission up to 100 keV, have been recorded using a Charged Coupled Device (CCD) in single hit regime and a crystal spectrometer. We discuss the results and implications for the design of the experiments at the NIF.