Ultrafast turnoff laser triggered gating system for microchannel‐plate intensified x‐ray spectrometers

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Abstract
A laser triggered photoconductive switch based microchannel‐plate (MCP) gating system has been developed. The gating pulse provided to the MCP has a fall time on the order of 200 ps. Use of this system has resulted in increased signal‐to‐noise ratio on three MCP intensified x‐ray spectrometers during recent x‐ray experiments at the Novette laser facility. The x‐ray signals of interest have a duration of approximately 300 ps while background in the same spectral region continues for several nanoseconds. As a result, signal‐to‐noise ratio is maximized by turning the MCP off just after the signals of interest are recorded. The MCP’s are turned on by charging to approximately 1 kV with a slow rise‐time (500 ns) pulse and rapidly gated off by a photoconductive switch connected to the MCP through transmission lines. Staggering the turnoff times of three microstrip lines across the MCP by 250 ps provides some time resolution. Details of the system, including pulse charging system, trigger beam delivery optics, and system diagnostics will be discussed.

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