X-ray Thomson scattering from proton heated Boron Nitride

We present the first measurements of proton heated Boron Nitride using x-ray Thomson scattering. The experiment was performed on the 300J, 10 ps Titan laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The ultra-intense laser beam was split into two beams: 30$\%$ of the energy was directed onto a 10 $\mu$m Aluminum foil to generate a proton beam, and the remaining 70$\%$ was focused onto a 10 $\mu$m iron foil to generate a K-$\alpha$ backlighter at 6.4 keV. The proton beam isochorically heated a Boron Nitride foil, creating a solid density plasma with a temperature between 10-20 eV. X-rays were forward-scattered from the heated target onto a curved HOPG crystal, providing an accurate measurement of the temperature from the ratio of up- vs. down-shifted plasmon signals. *This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, through the Institute for Laser Science and Applications, under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. The authors also acknowledge support from Laboratory Directed Research and Development Grant No. 08-LW- 004.