Using gamma-ray emission to measure areal density of ICF capsules
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
Fusion neutrons streaming from a burning ICF capsule generate gamma rays via nuclear inelastic scattering in the ablator of the capsule. The intensity of gamma-ray emission is proportional to the product of the ablator areal density ('{rho}R') and the yield of fusion neutrons, so by detecting the gamma rays we can infer the ablator areal density, provided we also have a measurement of the capsule's total neutron yield. In plastic-shell capsules, for example, {sup 12}C nuclei emit gamma rays at 4.44 MeV after excitation by 14.1-MeV neutrons from D+T fusion. These gamma rays can be measured by the Gamma Reaction History (GRH) experiment being built at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). A linear error analysis indicates the chief sources of uncertainty in inferred areal density.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1012637
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-10-03272; LA-UR-10-3272; TRN: US1102348
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 18th Topical Conference on High-Temperature Plasma Diagnostics ; May 16, 2010 ; Wildwood, NJ
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Using gamma-ray emission to measure areal density of inertial confinement fusion capsules
Measurement of areal density in the ablators of inertial-confinement-fusion capsules via detection of ablator (n, n Prime {gamma}) gamma-ray emission