Soft x-ray diagnostics for pulsed power machines

A variety of soft x-ray diagnostics are being fielded on the Los Alamos National Laboratory Pegasus and Procyon pulsed power systems and also being fielded on joint US/Russian magnetized target fusion experiments known as MAGO (Magnitoye Obzhatiye). The authors have designed a low-cost modular photoemissive detector designated the XRD-96 that uses commercial 1100 series aluminum for the photocathode. In addition to photocathode detectors a number of designs using solid state silicon photodiodes have been designed and fielded. They also present a soft x-ray time-integrated pinhole camera system that uses standard type TMAX-400 photographic film that obviates the need for expensive and no longer produced zero-overcoat soft x-ray emulsion film. In a typical experiment the desired spectral energy cuts, signal intensity levels, and desired field of view will determine diagnostic geometry and x-ray filters selected. The authors have developed several computer codes to assist in the diagnostic design process and data deconvolution. Examples of the diagnostic design process and data analysis for a typical pulsed power experiment are presented