Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Development of backlighting sources for a Compton radiography diagnostic of Inertial Confinement Fusion targets

Conference ·
OSTI ID:939467

We present scaled demonstrations of backlighter sources, emitting Bremsstrahlung x-rays with photon energies above 75 keV, that we will use to record x-ray Compton radiographic snapshots of cold dense DT fuel in inertial confinement fusion implosions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). In experiments performed at the Titan laser facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we measured the source size and the Bremsstrahlung spectrum as a function of laser intensity and pulse length, from solid targets irradiated at 2e17-5e18 W/cm{sup 2} using 2-40 ps pulses. Using Au planar foils we achieved source sizes down to 5.5 {micro}m, and conversion efficiencies of about 1e-3 J/J into x-ray photons with energies in the 75-100 keV spectral range. We can now use these results to design NIF backlighter targets and shielding, and to predict Compton radiography performance as a function of the NIF implosion yield and associated background.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
939467
Report Number(s):
LLNL-CONF-403746
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English