THE FLEXIBLE X-RAY IMAGER

A new gated x-ray framing camera has been developed at the Lawrence Li vermore National Laboratory for use at the Nova laser facility. This d iagnostic, the flexible x-ray imager, has been designed as a modular u nit that can be rapidly reconfigured to change the spectral response, magnification, sensitivity, and spatial and temporal resolutions of th e instrument, The electrical gate pulse width may be varied from 200 p s to 2 ns depending upon whether the experimental emphasis is on tempo ral resolution or sensitivity. The long integration times are particul arly useful in experiments where motional blurring occurs over even lo nger time scales. A detailed description of the instrument and its var ied uses is presented. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.