LASER EXCITED X-RAY SOURCE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the wear of a target and to easily vary the intensity of an X-ray in a laser-excited X-ray source by preventing the target from being contaminated or damaged by particles from a plasma. SOLUTION: This laser-excited X-ray source which produces X-rays by means of a plasma produced by irradiation with a laser beam includes a container 2 with a target material 11 sealed therein, the container 2 having a transmitting window 21 allowing transmission of a laser beam 31 and an X-ray 41 and blocking scattering of the target material and the plasma 12. The target material and the plasma are confined within the sealed container to prevent the ports and the X-ray optical system of the laser-excited X-ray source from being contaminated or damaged by particles emitted from the plasma so as to reduce the wear of the target material. An attitude changing mechanism 6 which varies the thickness of the target to vary the attitude of the container having the target material and the plasma sealed therein is provided to easily vary the intensity of the X-ray.