Compact laser-driven plasma X-ray source for time-resolved diffraction, spectroscopy, and imaging experiments at ELI Beamlines

This contribution presents the characteristics of a newly commissioned kHz laser-driven Cu plasma X-ray source developed at the ELI Beamlines facility. The source can be driven either by an in-house developed high-contrast, sub-20 fs near-infrared TW laser using optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) technology or by a more conventional Ti:Sapphire laser delivering 12 mJ, 45 fs pulses. A photon flux of up to 10^12 Kα photons/4π/s is reported. The OPCPA system generates higher X-ray yield, benefiting from higher pulse energy, shorter pulse duration, and enhanced nanosecond contrast. The experimental setups for ultrafast X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption/emission spectroscopy utilizing the X-ray source are presented.