A Bragg Diffraction Based 6 keV X-ray Imaging System for a Laboratory Plasma Jet

A simple x-ray imaging system based on Bragg diffraction has been designed to image approximately 6 keV x-ray bursts from a lab plasma jet undergoing an instability that then breaks the jet. The imaging system consists of a spherically bent silicon (Si) crystal capable of reflecting and focusing 6 keV x-ray photons having near 90-degree angle of incidence, an aluminum foil to block visible light, and a cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG: Ce) scintillator that converts the x-ray image to a visible light image. The converted x-ray images will be recorded by a high-speed movie camera. The diagnostic will be placed outside a vacuum chamber and will view the x-ray source through a Kapton window. Comparison between the x-ray images produced by the system and visible light images of the plasma jet will identify the time and location of the x-ray bursts and show if, as expected, they are associated with the breaking off of the jet.