A framed, 16-image Kirkpatrick-Baez x-ray microscope

A 16-image Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB)-type x-ray microscope consisting of compact KB mirrors [F. J. Marshall, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 10E518 (2012)] has been assembled for the first time with mirrors aligned to allow it to be coupled to a high-speed framing camera. The high-speed framing camera has four independently gated strips whose emission sampling interval is ∼30 ps. Images are arranged four to a strip with ∼60-ps temporal spacing between frames on a strip. By spacing the timing of the strips, a frame spacing of ∼15 ps is achieved. A framed resolution of ∼6-μm is achieved with this combination in a 400-μm region of laser-plasma x-ray emission in the 2- to 8-keV energy range. A principal use of the microscope is to measure the evolution of the implosion stagnation region of cryogenic DT target implosions on the University of Rochester's OMEGA Laser System [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. The unprecedented time and spatial resolutions achieved with this framed, multi-image KB microscope have made it possible to accurately determine the cryogenic implosion core emission size and shape at the peak of stagnation. These core size measurements, taken in combination with those of ion temperature, neutron-production temporal width, and neutron yield allow for inference of core pressures, currently exceeding 50 Gbar in OMEGA cryogenic target implosions [Regan et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 025001 (2016)].