Processes during laser plasma experiments typically have time scales that are less than 100 ps. The measurement of these processes requires x-ray detectors with fast temporal resolution. We have measured the temporal responses and linearity of several different x-ray sensitive photoconductive detectors (PCDs). The active elements of the detectors investigated include both diamond (natural and synthetic) and GaAs crystals. The typical time responses of the GaAs PCDs are approximately 60 ps, respectively. Some characterizations using x-ray radiation from a synchrotron radiation source are presented.

A first set of shock propagation, laser-plasma interaction, hohlraum energetics and hydrodynamic experiments have been performed using the first 4 beams of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), in support of indirect drive Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and High Energy Density Physics.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) has been developing both continuous and burst solid-state focal-plane-array technology for a variety of high-speed imaging applications. For continuous imaging, a 128 x 128-pixel charge coupled device (CCD) has been fabricated with multiple output ports for operating rates greater than 10,000 frames per second with readout noise of less than 10 e(-) rms. An electronic shutter has been integrated into the pixels of the back-illuminated (BI) CCD imagers that give snapshot exposure times of less than 10 ns.For burst imaging, a 5 cm x 5 cm, 512 x 512-element, multi-frame CCD imager that collects four sequential image frames at megahertz rates has been developed for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) facility. To operate at fast frame rates with high sensitivity, the imager uses the same electronic shutter technology as the continuously framing 128 x 128 CCD imager. The design concept and test results are described for the burst-frame-rate imager.Also discussed is an evolving solid-state imager technology that has interesting characteristics for creating large-format x-ray detectors with ultra-short exposure times (100 to 300 ps). The detector will consist of CMOS readouts for high speed sampling (tens of picoseconds transistor switching times) that are bump bonded to deep-depletion silicon photodiodes. A 64 x 64-pixel CMOS test chip has been designed, fabricated and characterized to investigate the feasibility of making large-format detectors with short, simultaneous exposure times.

High temperature ("hot'') hohlraums are being developed to heat samples to high temperatures for opacity or other atomic physics studies. Hot hohlraums have been fielded at the National Ignition Facility [D. E. Hinkel, et al., Phys. Plasmas 12 (2005) 056305] and the OMEGA [M. B. Schneider, et al., Phys. Plasmas 13 (2006) 112701] lasers. They reach high radiation temperatures by coupling a maximum amount of laser energy (10 kJ) into small, i.e., 400-800 mu m diameter, gold hohlraums in a 1 ns pulse causing the hohlraums to fill with gold plasma. Radiation temperatures of 370 eV have been measured in the laser entrance hole (LEH) region of these targets [D. E. Hinkel, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 (2006) 195001]. However, the LEH radiation is not the radiation drive of interest as the sample can neither be shielded from the non-thermal components of this radiation nor protected from the gold plasma. To mitigate these problems the source we are developing uses the radiation from the X-ray burnthrough of thin walls of a pair of hot hohlraums to heat a sample. We report on the measured radiation drive of this source and its use to heat a surrogate sample. We characterize the radiative heating of the sample by measuring its thermal expansion. Published by Elsevier B.V.

An experimental campaign to maximize radiation drive in small-scale hohlraums has been carried out at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA, USA) and at the OMEGA laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (Rochester, NY, USA). The small-scale hohlraums, laser energy, laser pulse, and diagnostics were similar at both facilities but the geometries were very different. The NIF experiments used on-axis laser beams whereas the OMEGA experiments used 19 beams in three beam cones. In the cases when the lasers coupled well and produced similar radiation drive, images of x-ray bumthrough and laser deposition indicate the pattern of plasma filling is very different.

Soft x-ray power diagnostics are essential for evaluating high temperature laser plasma experiments. The Dante soft x-ray spectrometer, a core diagnostic for radiation flux and temperature measurements of Hohlraums, installed on the Omega Laser Facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics has recently undergone a series of upgrades. Work performed at Brookhaven National Laboratory for the development of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Dante spectrometer enables the Omega Dante to offer a total of 18 absolutely calibrated channels in the energy range from 50eVto20keV. This feature provides Dante with the capability to measure higher, NIF relevant, radiation temperatures with increased accuracy including a differentiation of higher energy radiation such as the Au M and L bands. Diagnostic monitoring using experimental data from directly driven Au spherical shots is discussed.

Experiments done at the National Ignition Facility laser [J. A. Paisner, E. M. Campbell, and W. Hogan, Fusion Technol. 26, 755 (1994)] using gas-filled hohlraums demonstrate a key ignition design feature, i.e., using plasma pressure from a gas fill to tamp the hohlraum-wall expansion for the duration of the laser pulse. Moreover, our understanding of hohlraum energetics and the ability to predict the hohlraum soft-x-ray drive has been validated in ignition-relevant conditions. Finally, the laser reflectivity from stimulated Raman scattering in the fill plasma, a key threat to hohlraum performance, is shown to be suppressed by choosing a design with a sufficiently high ratio of electron temperature to density.

Deposition of maximum laser energy into a small, high-Z enclosure in a short laser pulse creates a hot environment. Such targets were recently included in an experimental campaign using the first four of the 192 beams of the National Ignition Facility [J. A. Paisner, E. M. Campbell, and W. J. Hogan, Fusion Technology 26, 755 (1994)], under construction at the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. These targets demonstrate good laser coupling, reaching a radiation temperature of 340 eV. In addition, the Raman backscatter spectrum contains features consistent with Brillouin backscatter of Raman forward scatter [A. B. Langdon and D. E. Hinkel, Physical Review Letters 89, 015003 (2002)]. Also, NIF Early Light diagnostics indicate that 20% of the direct backscatter from these reduced-scale targets is in the polarization orthogonal to that of the incident light.

The first hohlraum experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) using the initial four laser beams tested radiation temperature limits imposed by plasma filling. For a variety of hohlraum sizes and pulse lengths, the measured x-ray flux shows signatures of filling that coincide with hard x-ray emission from plasma streaming out of the hohlraum. These observations agree with hydrodynamic simulations and with an analytical model that includes hydrodynamic and coronal radiative losses. The modeling predicts radiation temperature limits with full NIF (1.8 MJ), greater, and of longer duration than required for ignition hohlraums.

In extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL), the technology specific requirements on the mask are a direct consequence of the utilization of radiation in the spectral region between 10 and 15 nm. At these wavelengths, all condensed materials are highly absorbing and efficient radiation transport mandates the use of all-reflective optical systems. Reflectivity is achieved with resonant, wavelength-matched multilayer (ML) coatings on all of the optical surfaces -- including the mask. The EUV mask has a unique architecture -- it consists of a substrate with a highly reflective ML coating (the mask blank) that is subsequently over-coated with a patterned absorber layer (the mask). Particulate contamination on the EUVL mask surface, errors in absorber definition and defects in the ML coating all have the potential to print in the lithographic process. While highly developed technologies exist for repair of the absorber layer, no viable strategy for the repair of ML coating defects has been identified. In this paper the state- of-the-art in ML deposition technology, optical inspection of EUVL mask blank defects and candidate absorber patterning approaches are reviewed.

The National Ignition Facility is operational at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The inertial confinement fusion and HED programs at LLNL have formed diagnostic research and development groups to institute improvements outside the charter of core diagnostics. We will present data from instrumentation being developed. A major portion of our work is improvements to detectors and readout systems. We have efforts related to charge-coupled device (CCD) development. Work has been done in collaboration with the University of Arizona to back thin a large format CCD device. We have developed in collaboration with a commercial vendor a large format, compact CCD system. We have coupled large format CCD systems to our optical and x-ray streak cameras leading to improvements in resolution and dynamic range. We will discuss gate width and uniformity improvements to microchannel plate-based framing cameras. We will present data from single shot data link work and discuss technology aimed at improvements of dynamic range for high-speed transient measurements from remote locations.

High energy (>10 keV) x-ray self-emission imaging and radiography will be essential components of many NIF high energy density physics experiments. In preparation for such experiments, we have evaluated the pros and cons of various static [x-ray film, bare charge-coupled device (CCD), and scintillator + CCD] and time-resolved (streaked and gated) 10–1000 keV detectors.

We present measurements of the absolute albedos of hohlraums made from gold or from high-Z mixtures. The measurements are performed over the range of radiation temperatures (70-100 eV) expected during the foot of an indirect-drive temporally shaped ignition laser pulse, where accurate knowledge of the wall albedo (i.e., soft x-ray wall reemission) is most critical for determining capsule radiation symmetry. We find that the gold albedo agrees well with calculations using the supertransition array opacity model, potentially providing additional margin for inertial confinement fusion ignition.

The Dante soft x-ray spectrometer, installed on the Omega laser facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, is a 12-channel filter-edge defined soft x-ray power diagnostic. It is used to measure the spectrally resolved, absolute flux from direct drive, indirect drive (hohlraums) and other plasma sources. Dante component calibration efforts using two beam lines, U3C (50 eV–1 keV) and X8A (1–6 keV) at the National Synchrotron Light Source have been implemented to improve the accuracy of these measurements. We have calibrated metallic vacuum x-ray diodes, mirrors and filters.

Due to the planar construction of present x-ray streak tubes significant off-center defocusing is observed in both static and dynamic images taken with one-dimensional resolution slits. Based on the streak tube geometry curved photocathodes with radii of curvature ranging from 3.5 to 18 inches have been fabricated. We report initial off-center focusing performance data on the evaluation of these "improved" photocathodes in an X-ray streak camera and an update on the theoretical simulations to predict the optimum cathode curvature.

This report summarizes the major accomplishments of this three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Lab Wide (LW) project entitled, ''An Inner-Shell Photo-Ionized X-Ray Laser at 45 {angstrom}'', tracking code 99-LW-042. The most significant accomplishments of this project include the design of a suitable x-ray laser target, the invention of a measurement technique for the determination of rise times of x-ray pulses on the order of 50 femtoseconds, and a novel setup for generating a traveling wave with an ultrashort optical laser pulse. The pump probe technique for rise time measurement will allow us to detect ultrashort x-ray pulses, whose generation by means of a variety of 4th generation light sources is currently under planning elsewhere.

Two new sets of projection and condenser optics for our prototype 10× reduction extremeultraviolet lithography (EUVL) system were coated with Mo/Si multilayers. The coating thickness was graded across the optics by using shadow masks to ensure maximum throughput at all incidence angles in the camera. The overall deviation of the (normalized) wavelength response across the clear aperture of each mirror is negligible, i.e., below 0.005% root mean square for each optic. However, the wavelength mismatch between two optics coated in different runs is up to 0.07 nm. Nevertheless, this is still within the allowed tolerances, and the predicted optical throughput loss in the camera due to such wavelength mismatch is about 4%. EUV reflectances of 63% and 65% were measured around 13.40 nm for the two secondary optics, which is in good agreement with the expected reflectance based on the substrate finish as measured with atomic force microscopy.