Experimental applications of intense X-ray and particle sources

Probing matter at very high temperatures and pressures requires to use X-ray sources or energetic particles, coupled with high-performance detection systems. Many applications of such sources, developed with high-power lasers are discussed, after recalling their specific operating made and basic physical principles. Concerning the photon sources, these applications are about X-ray radiography, either in the kJ-ns regime, for example for the analysis of imploded targets or the development of hydrodynamic instabilities, or in the ultrahigh intensity (UHI) regime, for the analysis of objects of high surface mass or the XANES spectroscopy using an ultrashort betatron probe. Concerning the particle sources, the significant applications are the protonographic imaging of underdense plasmas, and the isochoric heating of thin targets resulting from the acceleration of electrons by UHI lasers. (authors)