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Electronic flash lamps are being developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). These lamps are intended to replace the traditional explosively driven Argon-gas filled light sources (Argon candles) that are currently used to provide illumination for high speed rotating mirror-framing cameras. At Livermore, we are developing an electronic flash lamp system that can match or exceed the light output of a traditional Argon candle. These systems utilize a Plasma Arc Lamp developed by PRISM Science Inc of Woburn, MA, USA. In the past, high-speed photography requiring explosively driven light sources were a one-time-only even that destroyed fixtures and optical alignment. The electronic flash lamp system, utilizing the Plasma ArC Lamp, will replace the explosively driven lighting systems and provide the capability to dry run experimental setups and repeat tests without damage to the experimental set-up. The electronic flash lamp system eliminates the problem of collateral damage to the experiment and does not add to the overall amount of explosives needed for single test. Since the Pulsed-Power driver is remotely located, only the flash lamp itself is destroyed when the explosive shot is fired. The flexible geometry of this light source also enables the user to create complex light patterns as well as photograph very large areas with a single lighting system. This electronic flash lamp system will provide an extremely bright, stable, and repeatable light source for rotating-mirror framing cameras operating at one million frames per second, using both black & white or color films. The design of the Pulsed-Power driver and the flash lamp, along with experimental data and results will be discussed.
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