Imaging Transient X-rays Caused by Suprathermal Particles From A Laboratory Plasma Jet*

Transient 6 keV x-ray bursts having a duration of about one microsecond are detected in a laboratory plasma jet with 2 eV electron temperature. To investigate how these suprathermal x-rays are generated,  a 50-channel 1 dimensional PIN-diode-based x-ray coded aperture camera has been developed to locate the source of x-ray emissions. Preliminary pinhole x-ray images have confirmed a localized x-ray source within the plasma jet. To identify the exact location of the source, we are currently working on obtaining images with a higher signal-to-noise ratio and better spatial resolution with a coded aperture. Since x-rays are detected when the plasma jet is choked and broken by Rayleigh-Taylor ripples, we suspect the x-ray source is located at the breaking position. We are hoping to confirm this suspicion by overlaying x-ray images and visible light images of the plasma jet.