Commissioning of the new extended hard X-ray source for laser MégaJoule laser X-ray cameras calibration—Application to radiometric calibrations of two X-ray CCD and one X-ray framing camera

For Inertial Confinement Fusion experiments, the absolute sensitivity of X-ray cameras associated with plasma diagnostics must be known to quantitatively interpret the data. With the increase in complexity of Laser MégaJoule (LMJ) Facility experiments, more plasma diagnostics are being developed to work in a harder X-ray range (>10 keV). We present here the new X-ray source specifically designed to perform the absolute calibration of LMJ’s X-ray cameras up to ∼20 keV, instead of the previous source that was limited to 10 keV. The commissioning of this new source was achieved and qualified through the absolute calibrations of three X-ray cameras: two X-ray Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs), with one being a reference detector, and one X-ray framing camera. The radiometric feature of these measurements is provided by the use of the source in combination with a double-crystal monochromator. The very good agreement of the obtained quantum efficiency measurements of the reference CCD with previous calibrations and the theoretical model has self-guaranteed the reliability of the next sensitivity measurements performed with the two other cameras, especially the LMJ XRFC. This first XRFC absolute sensitivity curve, established between 2.2 and ∼18 keV, is compared and discussed with the few previous studies found in the literature.