Improved Experimental Techniques to Determine the X-Ray Source Intensity Distribution Produced from Intense Electron Beam Diodes

Summary form only given. The experimental measurement of the source distribution of flash X-rays produced by intense electron beam diodes for use in deep penetration flash radiography is important. Data on the intensity distribution of the X-ray source is required, both for the development of improved electron beam diodes, and also in order to provide more quantitative information for iterative reconstruction methods used to interrogate the data from explosively driven hydrodynamic experiments which use flash transmission radiography as a key diagnostic. A description of the current methods by which edge spread distributions of the source can be inferred from what is known as a knife edge measurement is given. Potential sources of error in the edge spread distribution derived from this measurement are described. These sources of error include effects due to photon scattering in knife-edge experimental geometries, detector resolution effects and the process by which knife-edge experimental data is processed. Guidelines in the provision of improved knife-edge measurements are given. These guidelines include quantification of how scattering effects degrade edge-spread determination in knife edge experiments, how detector blur considerations can be used to specify minimum radiographic magnifications for these experiments and how improved analysis techniques applied to knife edge transmission radiographs can minimise the errors introduced in the quantification of the source intensity distribution