Effect of gold photocathode contamination on a flat spectral response X-ray diode

A detector with an approximately flat spectral response is important for diagnosing intense thermal X-ray flux. A flat-spectral-response X-ray diode (FSR-XRD) utilizes a gold photocathode X-ray diode and a specially configured gold filter to give rise to a nearly flat spectral response in the photon energy range of 100–4000 eV. It has been observed that the spectral responses of several FSR-XRDs changed after a few shots of z-pinch experiments on the Primary Test Stand facility. This paper presents an analysis of the changes by fitting the spectral responses of the gold photocathodes using a model with a free parameter which characterizes the thickness of the contamination. The spectral responses of FSR-XRDs were calibrated with synchrotron radiation, and several cleaning methods were tested with the calibration. Considering the results of model and cleaning, it may be anticipated that contamination was the major reason of the response changing. Contamination worsened the flatness of the spectral response of the FSR-XRD and decreased the averaged response, hence it is important to avoid contamination. Current results indicate a requirement of further study of the contamination.