Micro-focus computed tomography for turbine blade based on all-optical bremsstrahlung source

Computed tomography is a major technique for nondestructive detection of internal defects of dense materials and large-size devices. It is widely used in material science, railway, aerospace, national defense, military industry and other industries. At present, conventional high-energy industrial computed tomography system uses the X-ray source based on traditional thermionic RF electron gun, which can only provide millimeter source size, thus limiting its imaging spatial resolution. A high-energy micro-focus X-ray source is the key means to realize high-resolution high-energy industry computed tomography. As an emerging accelerator technology, the laser wakefield accelerator is a promising candidate for the micro-focus high-energy industrial computed tomography. This article reports experimental results of a micro-focus X-ray source based on laser wakefield acceleration and a computed tomography for a turbine blade. Using a 20 TW Ti: sapphire laser system, an electron beam with a charge of (140±44) pC is generated through ionization-induced injection, and then an all-optical bremsstrahlung X-ray source with an accumulated source size of 25 μm is obtained by using a 1.5 mm tungsten target. Using this source, a preliminary compressed-sensing-based computed tomography for a turbine blade is performed.