[en] Conventional in-line high speed streak cameras have fundamental issues when their performance is extended below a picosecond. The transit time spread caused by both the spread in the photoelectron (PE) ''birth'' energy and space charge effects causes significant electron pulse broadening along the axis of the streak camera and limits the time resolution. Also it is difficult to generate a sufficiently large sweep speed. This paper describes a new instrument in which the extraction electrostatic field at the photocathode increases with time, converting time to PE energy. A uniform magnetic field is used to measure the PE energy, and thus time, and also focuses in one dimension. Design calculations are presented for the factors limiting the time resolution. With our design, subpicosecond resolution with high dynamic range is expected.

[en] We present initial characterization data from a new single-line-of-sight (SLOS) x-ray framing camera. The instrument uses an image-dissecting structure inside an electron optic tube to produce up to four simultaneous dc images from a single image incident on the cathode and a microchannel plate-based device to provide the temporal gating of those images. A series of gated images have been obtained using a short-pulse UV laser source, and the spatial resolution of those images is compared to those obtained using a more traditional-microchannel plate based system

[en] A 5 ps gated framing camera was demonstrated using the pulse-dilation of a drifting electron signal. The pulse-dilation is achieved by accelerating a photoelectron derived information pulse with a time varying potential [R. D. Prosser, J. Phys. E 9, 57 (1976)]. The temporal dependence of the accelerating potential causes a birth time dependent axial velocity dispersion that spreads the pulse as it transits a drift region. The expanded pulse is then imaged with a conventional gated microchannel plate based framing camera and the effective gating time of the combined instrument is reduced over that of the framing camera alone. In the drift region, electron image defocusing in the transverse or image plane is prevented with a large axial magnetic field. Details of the unique issues associated with rf excited photocathodes were investigated numerically and a prototype instrument based on this principle was recently constructed. Temporal resolution of the instrument was measured with a frequency tripled femtosecond laser operating at 266 nm. The system demonstrated 20x temporal magnification and the results are presented here. X-ray image formation strategies and photometric calculations for inertial confinement fusion implosion experiments are also examined.

[en] The DIlation X-ray Imager (DIXI) is a new, high-speed x-ray framing camera at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) sensitive to x-rays in the range of ≈2–17 keV. DIXI uses the pulse-dilation technique to achieve a temporal resolution of less than 10 ps, a ≈10× improvement over conventional framing cameras currently employed on the NIF (≈100 ps resolution), and otherwise only attainable with 1D streaked imaging. The pulse-dilation technique utilizes a voltage ramp to impart a velocity gradient on the signal-bearing electrons. The temporal response, spatial resolution, and x-ray sensitivity of DIXI are characterized with a short x-ray impulse generated using the COMET laser facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. At the NIF a pinhole array at 10 cm from target chamber center (tcc) projects images onto the photocathode situated outside the NIF chamber wall with a magnification of ≈64×. DIXI will provide important capabilities for warm-dense-matter physics, high-energy-density science, and inertial confinement fusion, adding important capabilities to temporally resolve hot-spot formation, x-ray emission, fuel motion, and mix levels in the hot-spot at neutron yields of up to 10¹⁷. We present characterization data as well as first results on electron-transport phenomena in buried-layer foil experiments

[en] A novel microchannel plate (MCP) intensified high-speed photo-multiplier tube making use of pulse-dilation[1] has been tested. A ramped photo-cathode voltage followed by a relatively long drift region results in a transit time which is dependent on the photo-electron birth time. This leads to temporal magnification or dilation, so providing an enhancement in time resolution of the optical signal with respect to the electrical signal at the output anode. By this means a time resolution on the order of picoseconds may be realized with a substantially slower oscilloscope. The photo-electron signal is guided from a photo-cathode to an MCP by an axial magnetic field and a short input record length is stretched by a factor up to 40X to yield significantly improved time resolution at the photo-cathode. Results of the first measurements are presented. (paper)

[en] As the yield on implosion shots increases it is expected that the peak x-ray emission reduces to a duration with a FWHM as short as 20 ps for ∼7 × 10¹⁸ neutron yield. However, the temporal resolution of currently used gated x-ray imagers on the NIF is 40–100 ps. We discuss the benefits of the higher temporal resolution for the NIF and present performance measurements for dilation x-ray imager, which utilizes pulse-dilation technology [T. J. Hilsabeck et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 10E317 (2010)] to achieve x-ray imaging with temporal gate times below 10 ps. The measurements were conducted using the COMET laser, which is part of the Jupiter Laser Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

[en] We report simulations and experiments that demonstrate an increase in spatial resolution of the NIF core diagnostic x-ray streak cameras by at least a factor of two, especially off axis. A design was achieved by using a corrector electron optic to flatten the field curvature at the detector plane and corroborated by measurement. In addition, particle in cell simulations were performed to identify the regions in the streak camera that contribute the most to space charge blurring. These simulations provide a tool for convolving synthetic pre-shot spectra with the instrument function so signal levels can be set to maximize dynamic range for the relevant part of the streak record.