DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED MAGNETIC FUSION PLASMA X-RAY DIAGNOSTICS USING THE LAYERED SYNTHETIC MICROSTRUCTURE OPTIC.

THE NEWLY-DEVELOPED LAYERED SYNTHETIC MICROSTRUCTURE (LSM) X-RAY OPTIC COMPONENT OFFERS THE POTENTIAL OF IMPROVING THE THE PERFORMANCE AND SURVIVABILITY OF X-RAY DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENTATION USED IN THE MAGNETIC FUSION ENERGY (MFE) EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM. THESE BENEFITS RESULT FROM THE ABILITY OF THE LSM TO DISCRIMINIATE SPECTRAL COMPONENTS WITH RESOLUTION COMPARABLE TO THAT PROVIDED BY THE SI(LI) X-RAY COUNTER BUT WITHOUT CONSTRAINT ON TIME RESOLUTION AND, DURING MFE DT-BURN OPERATION, TO SHIELD INSTRUMENT DETECTORS FROM DAMAGING FUSION NEUTRON IRRADIATION AND BACKGROUND GAMMA RADIATION. TO ESTABLISH A FOUNDATION FOR CONSTRUCTION AND EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF A PROTOTYPE LSM SPECTROMETER, A PHASE I PROGRAM OF INSTRUMENT PERFORMANCE SIMULATION AND OF LSM FAST NEUTRON SURVIVABILITY EXPERIMENTATION IS PROPOSED. THE GOAL OF THE PHASE I PROJECT IS THE DEMONSTRATION OF FEASIBILITY OF THE APPROACH AND OF THE ANTICIPATED BENEFITS OF LSM-BASED INSTRUMENTATION IN CRITICAL MFE X-RAY DIAGNOSTIC APPLICATION ROLES.