Upgrades to X-ray imaging diagnostic for pulsed plasmas

A 128x1 pixel x-ray camera based on an array of LYSO scintillators and PMTs has been used to measure and image high energy x-rays in laboratory plasma jets at Caltech and in z-pinch plasmas at UCSD’s CESZAR facility. This diagnostic has recently been upgraded to take 16x16 images. The 2D detector panel has been tested at Caltech and demonstrated to detect energetic x-rays. The upgraded diagnostic is to be tested and used at the UCSD facility as part of an INFUSE collaboration with MIFTI to take 2D x-ray images of a fast z-pinch. Tests on a faster although less efficient scintillator array which uses plastic scintillators will also be conducted. These imaging campaigns are intended to provide further evidence of the location of origin of energetic x-rays detected using the previous 1-D diagnostic.