Ion movie camera for particle‐beam‐fusion experiments

A camera with a 3 ns time resolution and a continuous (≳100 ns) record length has been developed to image a 1012–1013 W/cm2 ion beam for inertial‐confinement‐fusion experiments. A thin gold Rutherford‐scattering foil placed in the path of the beam scatters ions into the camera. The foil is in a near‐optimized scattering geometry and reduces the beam intensity∼seven orders of magnitude. The scattered ions are pinhole imaged onto a 2D array of 39 p‐i‐n diode detectors; outputs are recorded on LeCroy 6880 transient‐waveform digitizers. The waveforms are analyzed and combined to produce a 39‐pixel movie which can be displayed on an image processor to provide time‐resolved horizontal‐ and vertical‐focusing information.