Enhanced-Rise-Time Bremsstrahlung Aurora Environment

The technique of beam nose erosion has been employed at the Aurora flash x-ray machine to obtain a modified bremsstrahlung pulse with a shorter rise time. When the Aurora is operated in its conventional mode the individual thick target bremsstrahlung sources each have a rise time of about 40 to 50 nanoseconds. The modifications described here involve the insertion of a beam erosion chamber between one of the four anodes and its bremsstrahlung target. Bremsstrahlung rise times varied, depending on the anode-cathode gap and the chamber pressures, between 10 nanoseconds and 100 nanoseconds.