The original goal of our research was to open up a new class of scientific experiments by increasing the power of newly available x-ray sources by orders of magnitude. This was accomplished by developing a new generation of x-ray optics, based on hard x-ray (10-200 keV) reflective and diffractive focusing elements. The optical systems we envision begin with a core reflective optic, which has the ability to capture and concentrate x-rays across a wide range of energies and angles band, combined with diffractive optics, based on large-scale multilayer structures, that will further enhance the spatial, spectral and temporal resolving power of the system. Enabling technologies developed at LLNL such as precise mounting of thermally formed substrates, smoothing techniques and multilayer films of ultra-high reflectance and precision were crucial in the development and demonstration of our research objectives. Highlights of this phase of the project include: the design and fabrication of a concentrator optic for the Pleiades Thomson X-ray source located at LLNL, smoothing of glass substrates through application of polyimide films, and the design, fabrication and testing of novel volume multilayers structures. Part of our research into substrate smooth led to the development of a new technique (patent pending) to …

We have taken the initiative to examine whether experiments on HED facilities, present and future, could achieve the extreme scaled conditions relevant to accreting neutron star atmospheres and accretion disks around black holes. The preliminary conclusion from this detailed scaling assessment is that if an exact scaled version of the photon bubble instability physics is desired, this will require experiments with (simultaneously) spatial scales of order {approx}1 mm, temperatures of order {approx}5 keV, magnetic fields of order a hundred megaGauss, and time scales of order several hundred psec. Aspects (subsets) of this physics can be studied under less demanding conditions. To achieve the temperatures required in targets of order several optical depths, we come to the preliminary conclusion that we would require an energy source that delivers of order of a megajoule of energy into a high Z target. A conceptual design for such an experiment could be to use the energy from a high gain ignition NIF capsule as our principle source of heating and acceleration whereby the target is in close proximity to the ignition capsule and then use external petawatt lasers to develop the magnetic fields required.