Optimized online filter stack spectrometer for ultrashort X-ray pulses

Currently,with the advent of high-repetition-rate laser-plasma experiments,the demand for online diagnosis for the X-ray spectrum is increasing because the laser-plasma-generated X-ray spectrum is very important for characterizing electron dynamics and applications.In this study,scintillators and silicon PIN(P-type–intrinsic-N-type semiconductor)diodes were used to construct a wideband online filter stack spectrometer.The X-ray sensor and filter arrangement was optimized using a genetic algorithm to minimize the condition number of the response matrix.Consequently,the unfolding error was significantly reduced based on numerical experiments.The detector responses were quantitatively calibrated by irradiating the scintillator and PIN diode with various nuclides and comparing the measuredγ-ray peaks.A prototype 15-channel spectrometer was developed by integrating an X-ray detector with front-and back-end electronics.The prototype spectrometer could record X-ray pulse signals at a repetition rate of 1 kHz.Furthermore,an optimized spectrometer was employed to record the real-time spectra of laser-driven bremsstrahlung sources.This optimized spectrometer offers a compact solution for spectrum diagnostics of ultrashort X-ray pulses,exhibiting improved accuracy in terms of spectrum measurements and repetition rates,and could be widely used in next-generation high-repetition-rate high-power laser facilities.

Design and calibration of an elliptical crystal spectrometer for the diagnosis of proton-induced x-ray emission(PIXE)

Laser-driven proton-induced x-ray emission(laser-PIXE) is a nuclear analysis method based on the compact laser ion accelerator. Due to the transient process of ion acceleration, the laser-PIXE signals are usually spurted within nanoseconds and accompanied by strong electromagnetic pulses(EMP), so traditional multi-channel detectors are no longer applicable.In this work, we designed a reflective elliptical crystal spectrometer for the diagnosis of laser-PIXE. The device can detect the energy range of 1 keV–11 ke V with a high resolution. A calibration experiment was completed on the electrostatic accelerator of Peking University using samples of Al, Ti, Cu, and ceramic artifacts. The detection efficiency of the elliptical crystal spectrometer was obtained in the order of 10-9.

Accuracy analysis of iron content of galvanized coating using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer with an L-spectrum

The accuracy(repeatability and reproducibility) of the iron content analysis of galvanized coating using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer with an L-spectrum is not better than that of flame atomic absorption spectrometry, sometimes it exceeds the quality control limit.Influences, such as current, voltage, equipment(internal circulating water, 10%CH4+90%Ar, and vacuum) checking, instrument monitoring, sample cleaning, and oper-ators, were investigated by means of 6-sigma and lean operations to improve accuracy.

Readout electronics for a high-resolution soft X-ray spectrometer based on silicon drift detector

The readout electronics for a prototype soft X-ray spectrometer based on silicon drift detector(SDD),for precisely measuring the energy and arrival time of X-ray photons is presented in this paper.The system mainly consists of two parts,i.e.,an analog electronics section(including a pre-amplifier,a signal shaper and filter,a constant fraction timing circuit,and a peak hold circuit)and a digital electronics section(including an ADC and a TDC).Test results with X-ray sources show that an energy dynamic range of 1-10 keV with an integral nonlinearity of less than 0.1%can be achieved,and the energy resolution is better than 160 eV @ 5.9 keV FWHM.Using a waveform generator,test results also indicate that time resolution of the electronics system is about 3.7 ns,which is much less than the transit time spread of SDD(<100 ns)and satisfies the requirements of future applications.

Spectrometer of hard X-ray imager payload onboard the ASO-S mission

A spaceborne hard X-ray spectrometer, composed of an array of 99 scintillation detectors and associated readout electronics, has been developed for the hard X-ray imager(HXI). The HXI is one of the three payloads onboard the advanced space-based solar observatory(ASO-S), which is scheduled to be launched in early 2022 as the first Chinese solar satellite. LaBr3 scintillators and photomultiplier tubes with a super bialkali cathode are used to achieve an energy resolution better than 20% at 30 keV.Further, a new multi-channel charge-sensitive readout application-specific integrated circuit guarantees high-frequency data acquisition with low power consumption. This paper presents a detailed design of the spectrometer for the engineering model of the HXI and discusses its noise and linearity performance.

Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy for the Quantitative Analysis of Pyrite Thin Specimens

To explore ways to improve the accuracy of quantitative analysis of samples in the micrometer to nanometer range of magnitudes,we adopted analytical transmission electron microscopy(AEM/EDS)for qualitative and quantitative analysis of pyrite materials.Additionally,the k factor of pyrite is calculated experimentally.To develop an appropriate non-standard quantitative analysis model for pyrite materials,the experimentally calculated k factor is compared with that estimated from the non-standard quantitative analytical model of the instrument software.The experimental findings demonstrate that the EDS attached to a TEM can be employed for precise quantitative analysis of micro-and nanoscale regions of pyrite materials.Furthermore,it serves as a reference for improving the results of the EDS quantitative analysis of other sulfides.

Test of a High Throughput Detector on the X-ray Crystal Spectrometer of the EAST

An attempt was made to improve the spatio-temporal resolution of the tangen- tial X-ray crystal spectrometer （XCS） on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak （EAST） by evaluating experimentally the applicability of a novel X-ray photon detection tech- nology for measuring the satellite spectra of Ar XVII with a high counting rate. High-resolution experimental data on the profiles of ion temperature and plasma rotation velocity facilitate the studies of the mechanisms underlining important physical phenomena, such as plasma heating, L-H transition and momentum transport. Based on silicon diode array and single-photon counting technology, a relatively small area （83.8 x 33.5 mm~） two-dimensional detector was successfully in- stalled and tested in the recent EAST campaign. X-ray photon counting rate higher than 20 MHz was observed for the first time, and high quality satellite spectra were recorded for ion temperature and plasma rotation measurement, indicating that the new technology is suitable for the next-step high-resolution XCS on EAST, and the deployment of a detector array with a much larger X-ray sensing area is planned for better plasma coverage.

Design of Time-Resolved Shifted Dual Transmission Grating Spectrometer for the X-Ray Spectrum Diagnostics

A new time-resolved shifted dual transmission grating spectrometer （SDTGS） is designed and fabricated in this work. This SDTGS uses a new shifted dual transmission grating （SDTG） as its dispersive component, which has two sub transmission gratings with different line densities, of 2000 lines/mm and 5000 lines/mm. The axes of the two sub transmission gratings in SDTG are horizontally and vertically shifted a certain distance to measure a broad range of 0.1-5 keV time-resolved X-ray spectra. The SDTG has been calibrated with a soft X-ray beam of the synchrotron radiation facility and its diffraction efficiency is also measured. The designed SDTGS can take full use of the space on a record panel and improve the precision for measuring spatial and temporal spectrum simultaneously. It will be a promising application for accurate diagnosis of the soft X-ray spectrum in inertial confinement fusion.

Research of CdZnTe detector based portable energy dispersive spectrometer

A kind of excellent CdZnTe crystal has been grown in Yinnel Tech, Inc. in recent years. Based on these CdZnTe crystals and some new techniques, a portable energy-dispersive spectrometer has been constructed which has yielded good results. CdZnTe detector has a 3% relative resolution in high-energy field and can detect gamma rays at room temperature. An integrated circuit based on preamplifier and shaping amplifier chips is connected to the detector. Voltage pulses are transformed into digital signals in MCA (multichannel analyzer) and are then transmitted to com- puter via USB bus. Data process algorithms are improved in this spectrometer. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) and nu- merical differentiation (ND) are used in energy peak’s searching program. Sampling-based correction technique is used in X-ray energy calibration. Modified Gaussian-Newton algorithm is a classical method to solve nonlinear curve fitting problems, and it is used to compute absolute intensity of each detected characteristic line.

Application of Dual-Energy X-Ray Image Detection of Dangerous Goods Based on YOLOv7

X-ray security equipment is currently a more commonly used dangerous goods detection tool, due to the increasing security work tasks, the use of target detection technology to assist security personnel to carry out work has become an inevitable trend. With the development of deep learning, object detection technology is becoming more and more mature, and object detection framework based on convolutional neural networks has been widely used in industrial, medical and military fields. In order to improve the efficiency of security staff, reduce the risk of dangerous goods missed detection. Based on the data collected in X-ray security equipment, this paper uses a method of inserting dangerous goods into an empty package to balance all kinds of dangerous goods data and expand the data set. The high-low energy images are combined using the high-low energy feature fusion method. Finally, the dangerous goods target detection technology based on the YOLOv7 model is used for model training. After the introduction of the above method, the detection accuracy is improved by 6% compared with the direct use of the original data set for detection, and the speed is 93FPS, which can meet the requirements of the online security system, greatly improve the work efficiency of security personnel, and eliminate the security risks caused by missed detection.

Ultrahard X-ray multifunctional application beamline at the SSRF

The ultrahard X-ray multifunctional application beamline(BL12SW)is a phase-II beamline project at the Shanghai Syn-chrotron Radiation Facility.The primary X-ray techniques used at the beamline are high-energy X-ray diffraction and imaging using white and monochromatic light.The main scientific objectives of ultrahard X-ray beamlines are focused on two research areas.One is the study of the structural properties of Earth’s interior and new materials under extreme high-temperature and high-pressure conditions,and the other is the characterization of materials and processes in near-real service environments.The beamline utilizes a superconducting wiggler as the light source,with two diamond windows and SiC discs to filter out low-energy light(primarily below 30 keV)and a Cu filter assembly to control the thermal load entering the subsequent optical components.The beamline is equipped with dual monochromators.The first was a meridional bending Laue monochromator cooled by liquid nitrogen,achieving a full-energy coverage of 30-162 keV.The second was a sagittal bending Laue monochromator installed in an external building,providing a focused beam in the horizontal direction with an energy range of 60-120 keV.There were four experimental hutches:two large-volume press experimental hutches(LVP1 and LVP2)and two engineering material experimental hutches(ENG1 and ENG2).Each hutch was equipped with various near-real service conditions to satisfy different requirements.For example,LVP1 and LVP2 were equipped with a 200-ton DDIA press and a 2000-ton dual-mode(DDIA and Kawai)press,respectively.ENG1 and ENG2 provide in situ tensile,creep,and fatigue tests as well as high-temperature conditions.Since June 2023,the BL12SW has been in trial operation.It is expected to officially open to users by early 2024.

Readout electronics of a prototype spectrometer for measuring low-energy ions in solar wind plasma

Readout electronics is developed for a prototype spectrometer for in situ measurement of low-energy ions of30 e V/e–20 ke V/e in the solar wind plasma.A low-noise preamplifier/discriminator(A111F) is employed for each channel to process the signal from micro-channel plate(MCP) detectors.A high-voltage(HV) supply solution based on a HV module and a HV optocoupler is adopted to generate a fast sweeping HV and a fixed HV.Due to limitation of telemetry bandwidth in space communication,an algorithm is implemented in an FPGA(field programmable gate array) to compress the raw data.Test results show that the electronics achieves a 1 MHz event rate and a large input dynamic range of 95 p C.A slew rate of 0.8 V/ls and an integral nonlinearity of 0.7-LSB for the sweeping HV,and a precision of less than 0.8 % for the fixed HV are obtained.A vacuum beam test shows an energy resolution of 12 ± 0.7 % full width at half maximum(FWHM) is achieved,and noise counts are less than10/sec,indicating that the performance meets the physical requirement.

Two-dimensional particle-in-cell modeling of blow-off impulse by X-ray irradiation

Space objects such as spacecraft or missiles may be exposed to intense X-rays in outer space,leading to severe damage.The reinforcement of these objects to reduce the damage caused by X-ray irradiation is a significant concern.The blow-off impulse(BOI)is a crucial physical quantity for investigating material damage induced by X-ray irradiation.However,the accurate calculation of BOI is challenging,particularly for large deformations of materials with complex configurations.In this study,we develop a novel two-dimensional particle-in-cell code,Xablation2D,to calculate BOIs under far-field X-ray irradiation.This significantly reduces the dependence of the numerical simulation on the grid shape.The reliability of this code is verified by simulation results from open-source codes,and the calculated BOIs are consistent with the experimental and analytical results.

High performance streaked X-ray spectrometer for research of laser-produced plasmas

In order to mitigate the effect of the strong electromagnetic pulse, which produces laser-plasma interactions, we designed a new streaked X-ray spectrometer （SXS） enclosed within a well-sealed, electromag- netic interference-free cavity. The SXS can cover a wide selection of spectral windows using interchangeable Bragg crystals and by appropriate adjustment of the Bragg angle. The SXS has been used to observe time-re- solved X-ray spectrum in the 2.5 keV to 3.5 keV photon-energy range, resulting in a demonstrated spectral res- olution of about 13 at 2960 eV with a time resolution of 10 ps. The observed time and spectral resolutions dem- onstrate the applicability of the SXS for studies of laser-produced plasmas.

Measurement of tungsten impurity spectra with a two-crystal X-ray crystal spectrometer on EAST

Spectral measurement of tungsten(W)impurity is essential to study impurity transport.Therefore,an X-ray crystal spectrometer(XCS)on EAST was used to measure the line spectra from highly ionized W ions.On EAST,both poloidal XCS and tangential XCS have been developed to measure the plasma temperature as well as the rotation velocity.Recently,He-like and H-like argon spectra have also been obtained using a two-crystal setup.W lines are identified in this study.Through a careful analysis,the W lines of 3.9336,3.9321,and 3.664(A)are found to be diffracted by He-like or H-like crystals.The lines are confirmed with the NIST database.We also calculated the ion temperature with Doppler broadening of these lines.The ion temperature from the W lines is entirely consistent with that from Ar line spectra.The measurement of these W line spectra could be used to study W impurity transport in future work.

Measurement of impurity lines with two-crystal x-ray spectrometers on EAST

To simultaneously measure the He-like and H-like argon spectra, a two-crystal assembly has been deployed to replace the previous single crystal on the tangential x-ray crystal spectrometer.By selecting appropriate crystals with similar Bragg angles, plasma temperature in the range of 0.5 keV≤Te≤10 keV and rotation can be diagnosed based on the He-like and H-like argon spectra. However, due to the added complexity in the two-crystal assembly in which the spectra might be diffracted by two crystals, some additional impurity lines were identified. For example,tungsten（W） lines in different ionization states were diffracted by the He-like and H-like crystal.Additional molybdenum（Mo） lines in the wavelength range of He-like and H-like argon spectra lines were also summarized. The existence of these additional lines caused the fitted temperature to be different from the true values. This paper presents the identified lines through a comparison with available database, which should be included in the fitting procedure.

A High-Efficiency X-Ray Crystal Spectrometer for X-Ray Thomson Scattering

Highly oriented pyrolitic graphite （HOPG） has high X-ray diffraction efficiency due to its unique mosaic crystal structure, and thus is very suitable for its application to X-ray Thomson scattering measurement of solid-density plasmas. In this article, by using the K-shell X-ray source from laser-produced Ti plasma, the properties of the HOPG spectrometer are characterized and compared with those of the flat Pentaerythritol （PET） spectrometer. The results show that the diffraction efficiency of the HOPG spectrometer under focusing condition is an order higher than that of the PET spectrometer, while the spectral resolution of the HOPG is about 320, high enough to be used in the measurement of X-ray Thomson scattering spectra.

Ray tracing method for the grazing incidence flat-field imaging soft X-ray spectrometer

A ray tracing method is introduced for helping adjustment and spectra analysis of the grazing incidence flat-field imaging soft X-ray spectrometer. For a single point source, the spectra images obtained by separate components, the toroidal mirror, and the grazing incidence flat-field concave grating with varied line spaces are given respectively. The calculated spectral images of the single point source by the spectrometer are also given for comparison with measurements with different experimental alignments.

A New Method for Measurements of the Poloidal Rotation Velocities and Wavelength Calibration of X-ray Imaging Crystal Spectrometer in Magnetic Fusion Devices

A new simple method is presented for the wavelength calibration and measurement of poloidal rotation velocities with X-ray imaging crystal spectrometer（XICS）in magnetic fusion devices.In this method,the toroidal rotation of plasma is applied for high precise alignment and wavelength calibration of the poloidal XICS.The measurement threshold of poloidal rotation velocity can be lowered to 1-3 km/s with this method.

A study on some elements and their phases in sediments of Changjiang Estuary by X-ray spectrometer and X-ray diffractometer

INTRODUCTIONThe studies on the quantitative distribution of the conventional elements and their phases in the sediments of the Changjiang Estuary are of great importance to the understanding of the chemical processes of ion exchange, absorption, desorption and flocculation in the estuary.