Early-time measurements of soft x-ray emission in an omega-upgrade laser-produced plasma. Semi-annual report, October 1, 1996--March 31, 1997

Beginning in January 1997 (following arrival of the FY-97 funding) we have been preparing for our first series of experiments under this grant at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) on the Omega Upgrade laser facility, now scheduled to commence June 2, 1997. For these experiments we have purchased (just arrived) a four-channel gated-stripline microchannel plate (MCP) detector to be coupled to our soft x-ray flat-field grazing incidence spectrograph used previously at LLE. This will permit time-resolved `snapshots` of the complete spectra with a resolution to times as short as 180 ps per strip. An advantage of this technique over the streak camera used previously is the lack of any carbon absorbers such as in the thin plastic cathode required for the streak camera. This eliminates absorption in the 30-44 {angstrom} spectral region in which we are interested for intermediate-Z target materials such as Mg, Al and Si. An auxiliary turbomolecular-drag pump has also been installed in order to obtain the necessary vacuum for optimum MCP operation