A genetic algorithm approach for reconstructing spectral content from filtered x-ray diode array spectrometers

Filtered diode array spectrometers are routinely employed to infer the temporal evolution of spectral power from x-ray sources, but uniquely extracting spectral content from a finite set of broad, spectrally overlapping channel spectral sensitivities is decidedly nontrivial in these under-determined...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of scientific instruments 2020-08, Vol.91 (8)
Main Authors: Kemp, G. E., Rubery, M. S., Harris, C. D., May, M. J., Widmann, K., Heeter, R. F., Libby, S. B., Schneider, M. B., Blue, B. E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
plasma physics
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Filtered diode array spectrometers are routinely employed to infer the temporal evolution of spectral power from x-ray sources, but uniquely extracting spectral content from a finite set of broad, spectrally overlapping channel spectral sensitivities is decidedly nontrivial in these under-determined systems. Here, we present the use of genetic algorithms to reconstruct a probabilistic spectral intensity distribution and compare to the traditional approach most commonly found in the literature. Unlike many of the previously published models, spectral reconstructions from this approach are neither limited by basis functional forms nor do they require a priori spectral knowledge. While the original intent of such measurements was to diagnose the temporal evolution of spectral power from quasi-blackbody radiation sources—where the exact details of spectral content were not thought to be crucial—we demonstrate that this new technique can greatly enhance the utility of the diagnostic by providing more physical spectra and improved robustness to hardware configuration for even strongly non-Planckian distributions.
ISSN:0034-6748
1089-7623