A Framed Monochromatic X-ray Microscope

Detector Crystal The Laser Fusion Experiments Groups from the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have jointly developed an instrument capable of simultaneously space-, time-, and spectrally resolving x-ray emission from inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets. Uses of the instrument include framed imaging of line emission from fuel or shell dopants and monochromatic backlighting. The x-ray imaging is accomplished with a Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB)–type four-image microscope (developed at LLE). The microscope has a best spatial resolution of ~5 μm and a sensitive energy range of ~2 to 8 keV. Timeresolved x-ray images are obtained with a pair of custom framing cameras (developed at LANL), each of which records two of the four images in two independent 80-ps time intervals. In addition, the energy range of the images can be restricted to a narrow (monochromatic) spectral range (~10 to 100 eV) by the introduction of diffracting crystals. This technique has been demonstrated in LLE’s x-ray laboratory with an e-beam-generated dc x-ray source, and at the LANL Trident laser facility with x rays from a laser-produced plasma. The microscope and gated monochromatic x-ray imaging (GMXI) module are undergoing initial testing on LLE’s OMEGA laser fusion facility.