Characteristics of the synchrotron-like X-ray source from laser-wakefield acceleration*

The synchrotron-like radiation source generated by laser wakefield accelerators due to electrons' oscillatory motion, known as "betatron'' X-rays, is a promising alternative to the synchrotron X-ray source owing to comparable photon energies and peak brightness but with much smaller facility size and cost. Such kind of radiation normally has a femtosecond ultrashort pulse duration, a few milliradians low divergence and a ~um source size. These properties guarantees its excellent performance in both high-temporal- and high-spatial-resolution imaging and also makes it a promising tool in probing ultrafast phenomena as well as pumping warm dense matters. We present here the generation of betatron X-ray source during the interaction of a 300 TW laser with density tailored plasma provided by a dual-stage 3D-printed gas-cell. We will discuss the dependence of betatron X-rays properties on plasma parameters and the electron beam properties. Preliminary results on X-ray phase contrast imaging of eutectic alloy microstructure will also be addressed.