X-ray Thomson scattering in high energy density plasmas

Accurate x-ray scattering techniques to measure the physical properties of dense plasmas have been developed for applications in high energy density physics. This class of experiments produces short-lived hot dense states of matter with electron densities in the range of solid density and higher where powerful penetrating x-ray sources have become available for probing. Experiments have employed laser-based x-ray sources that provide sufficient photon numbers in narrow bandwidth spectral lines, allowing spectrally resolved x-ray scattering measurements from these plasmas. The backscattering spectrum accesses the noncollective Compton scattering regime which provides accurate diagnostic information on the…