A Pb-TLD spectrometer to measure high energy photons in z-pinch experiments on the primary test stand

Highlights: • A Pb-TLD spectrometer has been developed to measure spectra of high energy photons in wire-array z pinches on PTS. • Energy spectra of high energy photons on PTS has been firstly obtained by unfolding programs developed with MATLAB code. • The energy of high energy x-ray on PTS is obtained to be mainly within the region of 100 keV to 1.3 MeV. - Abstract: A Pb-TLD spectrometer has been developed based on attenuation techniques to measure high energy photons in wire-array z-pinch experiments on the primary test stand (PTS). It is composed of a stack of 18 lead filters interspersed with 19 thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD). A shield is constructed for the spectrometer and scattered radiation is reduced to less than 5% by the shield. Response functions of the spectrometer are calculated by MCNP5 for 0–2 MeV photons. Based on response functions and 19 dose data measured in experiments, energy spectra of high energy photons on PTS has been firstly obtained by unfolding programs developed with MATLAB code using iterative least square fit. Results show that energy peak locates within 200 keV and 300 keV, and the fluence decreases to background level at energy higher than 1.3 MeV.