Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility

[1] The powerful pulsed X-ray beams allow for an ultra-fast motion picture to be constructed showing the details of the process being studied in three dimensions.

[4][5] During a weapon's crucial triggering phase, explosive charges that surround the nuclear fuel are detonated at multiple points.

To make the mockup non-nuclear, a heavy metal surrogate (such as depleted uranium or lead) stands in for the nuclear fuel, but all other components can be exact replicas.

Standard practice is to take a single stop-action snapshot of the weapon mockup's interior as the molten components rush inward at thousands of meters per second.

The electrons are yanked off course by the strong electrostatic pull of the positively charged nuclei in the tungsten atoms, and their sudden change in direction causes them to give off energy in the form of high-energy x-rays in a process called bremsstrahlung.

The new challenge was for the accelerator to deliver a very large number of electrons in an extremely powerful pulse to generate an x-ray flash that can penetrate the mockup during the ultra-dense implosion.

Each electron accelerator consists of a long row of doughnut-shaped magnetic induction cells, each connected to a high-voltage generator.

The electron beam-pulse travels through the central bore of the cells, receiving a 200 keV energy kick each time it passes through a gap.

The magnetic tape was insulated by thin layers of mylar and wound up into a roll of 20,000 turns to make mammoth six-foot-diameter cores, each four inches wide and weighing more than one and a half tons.