The large format x-ray imager

We introduce a new Large Format X-ray Imaging Camera (LFC) for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Inertial Confinement Fusion/Radiation Physics (ICF/RP) program. This instrument is intended as a prototype for use at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), but is capable of operating at LANL's Trident and the University of Rochester's OMEGA laser systems. The LFC is based upon similar x-ray camera architecture and is currently in the final design stages. It is constructed around a mosaic of 3 large (35 x 105 mm(2)) microchannel plate (MCP) detectors, primarily to give a larger field of view, but also for greater temporal coverage and higher magnification while maintaining spatial resolution. The camera is designed to have 30 data channels, six 13-mm-wide microstrips, continuous temporal coverage of 4.2 ns, adjustable electrical gate width, and variable gain on each microstrip and magnifications up to 20x. In the process of designing the LFC we scrutinized every element of the gated x-ray imaging process and designed optimization experiments for many of these elements. From the results of two of these experiments, improvements were made in impedance matching to MCPs and, in another, optimization of phosphor on faceplates. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.