Measuring time of flight of fusion products in an inertial electrostatic confinement fusion device for spatial profiling of fusion reactions

Journal Article · Fri Mar 15 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4793771· OSTI ID:22105452

Donovan, D. C. ^[1]; Boris, D. R. ^[2]; Kulcinski, G. L.; Santarius, J. F. ^[3]; Piefer, G. R. ^[4]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories, 7011 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
2. Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Avenue, South West, Washington, DC 20375 (United States)
3. Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Engineering Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)
4. Phoenix Nuclear Labs, 2555 Industrial Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53713 (United States)

A new diagnostic has been developed that uses the time of flight (TOF) of the products from a nuclear fusion reaction to determine the location where the fusion reaction occurred. The TOF diagnostic uses charged particle detectors on opposing sides of the inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) device that are coupled to high resolution timing electronics to measure the spatial profile of fusion reactions occurring between the two charged particle detectors. This diagnostic was constructed and tested by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Group in the IEC device, HOMER, which accelerates deuterium ions to fusion relevant energies in a high voltage ({approx}100 kV), spherically symmetric, electrostatic potential well [J. F. Santarius, G. L. Kulcinski, R. P. Ashley, D. R. Boris, B. B. Cipiti, S. K. Murali, G. R. Piefer, R. F. Radel, T. E. Radel, and A. L. Wehmeyer, Fusion Sci. Technol. 47, 1238 (2005)]. The TOF diagnostic detects the products of D(d,p)T reactions and determines where along a chord through the device the fusion event occurred. The diagnostic is also capable of using charged particle spectroscopy to determine the Doppler shift imparted to the fusion products by the center of mass energy of the fusion reactants. The TOF diagnostic is thus able to collect spatial profiles of the fusion reaction density along a chord through the device, coupled with the center of mass energy of the reactions occurring at each location. This provides levels of diagnostic detail never before achieved on an IEC device.

• OSTI ID: 22105452
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 84; ISSN 0034-6748; ISSN RSINAK
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CENTER-OF-MASS SYSTEM
DEUTERIUM IONS
DIAGNOSTIC USES
DOPPLER EFFECT
EQUIPMENT
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
PLASMA
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TIME-OF-FLIGHT METHOD
WISCONSIN