Initial characterization results of a 1024x448, 25-μm multi-frame camera with 2ns integration time for the Ultrafast X-ray Imager (UXI) program at Sandia National Laboratories

Abstract

The Hippogriff camera developed at Sandia National Laboratories as part of the Ultra-Fast X-ray Imager (UXI) program is a high-speed, multi-frame, time-gated imager for use on a wide variety of High Energy Density (HED) physics experiments on both Sandia’s Z-Machine and the National Ignition Facility. The camera is a 1024 x 448 pixel array with 25 μm spatial resolution, containing 2 frames per pixel natively and has achieved 2 ns minimum integration time. It is sensitive to both optical photons as well as soft X-rays up to ~6 keV. The Hippogriff camera is the second generation UXI camera that contains circuitry to trade spatial resolution for additional frames of temporal coverage. The user can reduce the row-wise spatial resolution from the native 25 μm to increase the number of frames in a data set to 4 frames at 50 μm or 8 frames at 100 μm spatial resolution. This feature, along with both optical and X-ray sensitivity, facilitates additional experimental flexibility. Minimum signal is 1500 erms and full well is 1.5 million e-.