Performance of a hardened x-ray streak camera at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility.

Electron tubes continue to provide the highest speeds possible for recording dynamics of hot high-energy density plasmas. Standard streak camera drive electronics and CCD readout are not compatible with the radiation environment associated with high DT fusion yield inertial confinement fusion experiments >1013 14 MeV DT neutrons or >109 n cm-2 ns-1. We describe a hardened x-ray streak camera developed for the National Ignition Facility and present preliminary results from the first experiment on which it has participated, recording the time-resolved bremsstrahlung spectrum from the core of an inertial confinement fusion implosion at more than 40× the operational neutron yield limit of the previous National Ignition Facility x-ray streak cameras.

Magnetic bead based immunoassay for autonomous detection of toxins.

We are developing an automated system for the simultaneous, rapid detection of a group of select agents and toxins in the environment. To detect toxins, we modified and automated an antibody-based approach previously developed for manual medical diagnostics that uses fluorescent eTag reporter molecules and is suitable for highly multiplexed assays. Detection is based on two antibodies binding simultaneously to a single antigen, one of which is labeled with biotin while the other is conjugated to a fluorescent eTag through a cleavable linkage. Aqueous samples are incubated with the mixture of antibodies along with streptavidin-coated magnetic beads and a photoactive porphyrin complex. In the presence of antigen, a molecular complex is formed where the cleavable linkage is held in proximity to the photoactive group. Upon excitation at 680 nm, free radicals are generated, which diffuse and cleave the linkage, releasing the eTags. Released eTags are analyzed using capillary gel electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection. Limits of detection for ovalbumin and botulinum toxoid individually were 4 (or 80 pg) and 16 ng/mL (or 320 pg), respectively, using the manual assay. In addition, we demonstrated the use of pairs of antibodies from different sources in a single assay to decrease the rate of false positives. Automation of the assay was demonstrated in a flow-through format with higher LODs of 32 ng/mL (or 640 ng) each of a mixture of ovalbumin and botulinum toxoid. This versatile assay can be easily modified with the appropriate antibodies to detect a wide range of toxins and other proteins.