Roll bar x-ray spot size measurement technique

A time dependent x-ray spot size measurement is critical to understanding beam target physics such as target plasma generated beam instabilities. The so-called roll bar measurement uses a heavy metal material which is optically thick to X-rays, to form a 1D shadow of the x-ray origination spot. This spot is where an energetic electron beam interacts with a high Z target to produce the x-rays. The material (the "roll bar") has a slight radius to avoid alignment problems. If a beam profile is assumed (or measured by other means), the equivalent x-ray spot size can be calculated from the x-ray shadow cast by the roll bar. Typically a radiographic film is exposed over the duration of the beam pulse, and the shadow is analyzed for a time integrated measurement. This paper explores various techniques to convert the x-rays to visible photons which can be imaged using a gated camera or streak camera for time evolved x-ray spot size. Data will be presented from the measurements on the ETA II induction linac.