A novel technique for single-shot energy-resolved 2D X-ray imaging of plasmas relevant for the Inertial Confinement Fusion

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Energy-encoded Pinhole Camera (EPiC), a new single-shot X-ray imaging technique that captures 2D monochromatic images of plasmas across a broad energy range, enhancing diagnostics for laser-fusion experiments.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel diagnostic device, EPiC, capable of energy-resolved 2D X-ray imaging of plasmas in a single shot, covering a wide spectral domain with high spatial resolution.

Findings

Successful imaging of laser-fusion plasmas demonstrated

Extended spectral range from a few keV to tens of keV achieved

High-resolution 2D monochromatic images obtained in experiments

Abstract

A novel X-ray diagnostic of laser-fusion plasmas is described, allowing 2D monochromatic images of hot, dense plasmas to be obtained in any X-ray photon energy range, over a large domain, on a single-shot basis. The device (named Energy-encoded Pinhole Camera - EPiC) is based upon the use of an array of many pinholes coupled to a large area CCD camera operating in the single-photon mode. The available X-ray spectral domain is only limited by the Quantum Efficiency of scientific-grade X-ray CCD cameras, thus extending from a few keV up to a few tens of keV. Spectral 2D images of the emitting plasma can be obtained at any X-ray photon energy provided that a sufficient number of photons had been collected at the desired energy. Results from recent ICF related experiments will be reported in order to detail the new diagnostic.