Absolutely calibrated soft-X-ray streak camera for laser-fusion applications

The intensity output of a soft-X-ray stream camera was calibrated (SXRSC) in order to make absolute flux measurements of X rays emitted from laser-produced plasmas. The SXRSC developed at LLNL is used to time-resolve X-ray pulses to better than 20 ps. The SXRSC uses a Au photocathode on a thin carbon substrate which is sensitive to X-rays from 100 eV to greater than 10 keV. Calibrations are done in the dynamic mode using a small laser-produced X-ray source. The SXRSC is calibrated by comparing its integrated signal to the output of calibrated X-ray diodes monitoring the source strength. The measured SXRSC response is linear over greater than two orders of magnitude. Using these calibrations, absolute intensities can be measured to an accuracy of + -30%.