NEW-TECHNOLOGY X-RAY SPECTROMETER DEVELOPMENT FOR EFFECTS TESTING

THE EMERGING IMPORTANCE OF NUCLEAR-WEAPON AND DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPON (DEW) EFFECTS TESTING IN THE SOFT X-RAY REGIME HAS HIGHLIGHTED THE NEED FOR A ROBUST, ACCURATE AND RELIABLE SOFT X-RAY SPECTROMETER THAT WILL MEASURE FLUENCE INCIDENT ON UGT TEST-ARTICLES. THE NEW LAYERED SYNTHETIC MICROSTRUCTURE (LSM) X-RAY INTERFERENCE MIRROR TECHNOLOGY IS PROPOSED AS THE BASIS FOR A SPECTROMETER RESPONSIVE TO THIS NEED. THE PHASE I PROJECT WILL RESOLVE TECHNICAL RISK ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH THE SURVIVABILITY OF SPECTROMETER COMPONENTS IN THE UGT ENVIRONMENT, WITH THE ARCHITECTURE OF A MULTICHANNEL INSTRUMENT, AND WITH THE QUALITY OF THE DATA IT WILL PROVIDE AS A PRIME UGT DIAGNOSTIC. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL ESTABLISH A DESIGN BASIS FOR A PROTOTYPE INSTRUMENT THAT WILL BE CONSTRUCTED AND EXPERIMENTALLY EVALUATED IN PHASE II.