Characterizing flash-radiography source spots

Flash radiography of large hydrodynamic experiments driven by high explosives is a venerable diagnostic technique in use at many laboratories. The size of the radiographic source spot is often quoted as an indication of the resolving power of a particular flash-radiography machine. A variety of techniques for measuring spot size have evolved at the different laboratories, as well as different definitions of spot size. Some definitions are highly dependent on the source spot intensity distributions, and not necessarily well correlated with resolution. The concept of limiting resolution based on bar target measurements is introduced, and shown to be equivalent to the spatial wavenumber at a modulation transfer function value of 5%. This resolution is shown to be better correlated with the full width at half-maximum of the spot intensity distribution than it is with other definitions of spot size.