Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are working on a new diagnostic capability that will provide, for the first time, the ability to make X-ray radiographic movies.
The first experiment testing the principle, dubbed the Bipolar Reset Experiment (BIRX), was conducted at LLNL’s Flash X-Ray (FXR) deep-penetration radiographic facility at Site 300. The team has been focusing on accelerating the FXR electron beam using active reset induction cells driven by bipolar solid-state pulsers.
Nathaniel Pogue, accelerator physics group leader in LLNL’s National Security Engineering Division, said the experiment demonstrated the first time that a solid-state pulsed-power system has been used to accelerate (provide energy gain), to kiloamps of electron beam. It also is the first time that a bipolar solid-state pulsed-power (BSSPP) system has been used to accelerate kiloamps of electron beam. This shows rapid growth and maturation of the bipolar pulsed-power technology and accelerator hardware, as well as the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the LLNL team.
“This work will allow scientists to create X-ray movies of items of interest with each frame being 10s to 100s of nanoseconds apart once a full accelerator is made,” he said, adding that each beam pulse acts as a frame in the movie.