Five-frame, x-ray camera for charged particle, inertial confinement fusion studies.

A prototype framing x-ray camera has been developed for photographic studies of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets irradiated by charged particle beams. Electron images from five, independently gated, microchannel plates are transported out of the radiation field by means of a toroidal magnetic field and are permanently recorded on film. The calculated, effective exposure time is <or=5 ns (FWHM), and the resolution at the object is presently limited by the x-ray pinhole optics to approximately 0.5 mm. Time-resolved photographic studies have been made of luminous targets irradiated by pulsed electron and ion beams. The camera has also been adapted for single frame, x-radiographic studies of nonluminous imploding targets.