Design Study of Compact Thomson X-Ray Sources for Material and Life Sciences Applications

X-ray generators utilizing Thomson scattering fill in the gap existing between conventional and synchrotron based X-ray sources. They are expected to be more intensive than X-ray tubes and more compact, accessible and cheap than synchrotrons. In this work two operation modes of Thomson X-ray source: quasi CW (QCW) and pulsed are considered for material sciences and medical applications being implemented now at synchrotron radiation (SR) facilities. The system contains a similar to 50 MeV linac and a few picoseconds, few hundred W average power laser. Thomson X-ray source can provide up to 5.10(11) photons in a millisecond flash and average flux 10(12)-10(13) phot/sec. To achieve these parameters with existing optical and accelerator technology the system must also contain a ring for storage of e-bunches for 10(3)-10(5) revolutions and an optical circulator for storage of laser Pulses for 10(2) passes. As possible applications of the considered X-ray source XAFS spectroscopy, small animal angiography and human noninvasive corollary angiography are discussed.