Recovery of a chemical vapor deposited diamond detection system from strong pulses of laser produced x rays

We are planning an experiment that will study the response of a chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond detector to a strong x-ray pulse followed by a second weaker pulse arriving 50-300 ns later, with a contrast in amplitude of about 1000. These tests will be performed at the LLNL Jupiter laser facility and are intended to produce charge carrier densities similar to those expected during a DT implosion at the National Ignition Facility, where a large 14.1 MeV neutron pulse is followed by a weak downscattered neutron signal produced by slower 6-10 MeV neutrons. The areal density ρR is proportional to the number of downscattered neutrons. The challenge of measuring ρR resides consequently in the effects of the first strong pulse on the weaker later pulse, which may include the saturation of the diamond wafer, saturation of the oscilloscope, or saturation of the associated power and data acquisition electronics. We are presenting the preparation of a double pulse experiment that will use a system of three polycrystalline CVD diamond detectors irradiated by 8.6 keV x rays produced by two laser beams incident on a zinc target