TI K-alpha radiography of imploding CU doped CD shells and coned shells

The Vulcan laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in England has been used to show, for the first time, that picosecond laser generated non-thermal K-alpha radiation can be used effectively as a backlighter for radiographic imaging of an implosion. This novel method of x-ray radiography features high temporal resolution, high signal to noise ratio and monochromatic imaging. We present here the Ti K-alpha backlit images of a series of six-beam driven spherical implosions of thin-walled 500 micron Cu doped CD shells. These images, separated by ∼ 0.5ns intervals, capture various states of implosion in and around a stagnation time observed to be ∼ 3.25 ns. Images of imploding coned Cu doped CD shells used in fast ignition research are additionally presented. These images, taken near the previously determined stagnation time, show an imploded core collapsed around an attached gold laser entry cone. These radiographic results were linked to a study of fast electron transport within imploded Cu doped coned CD shells as a result of interaction with a high intensity, short pulse laser. The radiographic results, then, served as a verification of a smooth and uniform implosion and provided an empirical determination of stagnation time, both prerequisites for the electron transport diagnosis.