An experimental measurement of metal multilayer X-ray reflectivity degradation due to intense X-ray flux

The degradation of the X-ray reflection characteristics of metal multilayer Bragg diffractors due to intense X-ray flux was investigated. Molybdenum-carbon, paladium-carbon, and tungsten-carbon metal multilayers were used. Data for two separate shots were analyzed. For a pure neon gas shot at 420 TW, the reflectivity of the multilayer at 15 cm decayed rapidly with respect to the still-rising signal of the multilayer at 150 cm. The onset time of the decay corresponded to an integrated dose of 5.27 J/sq cm. For a neon implosion onto a vanadium-doped polyacrylic acid foam target shot, detailed modeling was attempted. The spectral flux was determined with data from 5 XRD channels and deconvolved using the code SHAZAM. The observed decay in reflectivity was assumed to correspond to the melting of the first tungsten layer. A conduction factor of 8.9 was required to manipulate the heat loading of the first tungsten layer such that the time of melting corresponded to the observed decay. The power at destruction was 141 MW/sq cm and the integrated energy at destruction was 2.0 J/sq cm.