June 28--DRS Hadland Ltd. (Tring, Herts,UK; www.drshadland.co.uk) has been contracted to develop and supply special x-ray streak cameras for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Fusion Research Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA, USA).
The new x-ray streak cameras will provide performance and operational versatility on very fast transient events in the laser fusion and plasma research fields. The cameras also will deliver time resolutions of shorter than 10 picoseconds and will use a large photocathode to provide the high spatial resolution required for time-resolved x-ray spectroscopy. Through selection of cathode material, the spectral ranges of operation of the cameras are expected to extend from 10 eV to greater than 15 KeV.
In addition, the x-ray cameras will provide a dynamic range in excess of 200:1 throughout their range of operation. By incorporating optical or electrical triggering, these cameras will enable streak recording of events in time windows from 2.5 ns to 50 ns.
Using a new 4k x 4k-pixel, 14-bit CCD sensor fibre-optically coupled to the streak tube/intensifier, the cameras will operate across long-time windows, while maintaining optimal spatial resolution and minimum cross-talk. Windows-compatible software is slated to offer a suite of image-analysis capabilities and monitoring of all camera functions via a RS-232 link.
