Mitigation of hard x-ray background in backlit pinhole imagers

J R Fein; P A Keiter; J P Holloway; S R Klein; J S Davis; R P Drake

doi:10.1063/1.4962192

Mitigation of hard x-ray background in backlit pinhole imagers

Rev Sci Instrum. 2016 Nov;87(11):11E341. doi: 10.1063/1.4962192.

Authors

J R Fein¹, P A Keiter², J P Holloway¹, S R Klein², J S Davis², R P Drake²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2143, USA.
² Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2143, USA.

PMID: 27910560
DOI: 10.1063/1.4962192

Abstract

Experiments were performed to mitigate the hard x-ray background commonly observed in backlit pinhole imagers. The material of the scaffold holding the primary backlighter foil was varied to reduce the laser-plasma instabilities responsible for hot electrons and resulting hard x-ray background. Radiographic measurements with image plates showed a factor of >25 decrease in x-rays between 30 and 67 keV when going from a plastic to Al or V scaffold. A potential design using V scaffold offers a signal-to-background ratio of 6:1, a factor of 2 greater than using the bare plastic scaffold.