Spectroscopy of pulsed X-ray emitted from plasma focus device using the radiographic film attached with attenuation filters and applying neural network technique

The plasma focus device can be utilized as an X-ray generator in radiographic applications. A few tens of nanoseconds after the pinch moment, the hard X-ray of this device is released in a time interval of 100-150 ns. The pulsed form of X-ray emitted from this device makes the common method of detection and spectrometry useless for characterizing them. In this article, passive spectrometry, using radiographic film with Al attenuation filters, was used to determine the pulsed X-ray spectrum emitted from the UIPF-1. Neural network technology was used to determine the spectrum according to recorded doses. The neural network was trained using MCNPX simulation results. The results showed that the X-ray spectrum extends from 6 keV to 50 keV with a maximum value of 8 keV when the UIPF-1 device is operated with the copper anode, the copper insert, the working voltage of 21 kV, and 0.9 mbar air gas injection. The average spectrum energy was also obtained at 17.5 keV.