Neutron spectrometry - An essential tool for diagnosing implosions at the National Ignition Facility

Conference · Wed May 02 00:00:00 EDT 2012

OSTI ID:1043648

Mackinnon, A J; Johnson, M G; Frenje, J A; Casey, D T; Li, C K; Seguin, F H; Petrasso, R; Ashabranner, R; Cerjan, C; Clancy, T J; Bionta, R; Bleuel, D; Bond, E J; Caggiano, J A; Capenter, A; Eckart, M J; Edwards, M J; Friedrich, S; Glenzer, S H; Haan, S W ; Hartouni, E P; Hatarik, R; Hachett, S P; McKernan, M; Jones, O; Lepape, S; Lerche, R A; Landen, O L; Moran, M; Moses, E; Munro, D; McNaney, J; Rygg, J R; Sepke, S; Spears, B; Springer, P; Yeamans, C; Farrell, M; Kilkenny, J D; Nikroo, A; Paguio, R; Knauer, J; Glebov, V; Sangster, T; Betti, R; Stoeckl, C; Magoon, J; Shoup, M J; Grim, G P; Moran, G L; Murphy, T J; Leeper, R J; Ruiz, C

DT neutron yield (Y{sub n}), ion temperature (T{sub i}) and down-scatter ratio (dsr) determined from measured neutron spectra are essential metrics for diagnosing the performance of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) implosions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). A suite of neutron-Time-Of-Flight (nTOF) spectrometers and a Magnetic Recoil Spectrometer (MRS) have been implemented in different locations around the NIF target chamber, providing good implosion coverage and the redundancy required for reliable measurements of Yn, Ti and dsr. From the measured dsr value, an areal density ({rho}R) is determined from the relationship {rho}R{sub tot} (g/cm{sup 2}) = (20.4 {+-} 0.6) x dsr{sub 10-12 MeV}. The proportionality constant is determined considering implosion geometry, neutron attenuation and energy range used for the dsr measurement. To ensure high accuracy in the measurements, a series of commissioning experiments using exploding pushers have been used for in situ calibration. The spectrometers are now performing to the required accuracy, as indicated by the good agreement between the different measurements over several commissioning shots. In addition, recent data obtained with the MRS and nTOFs indicate that the implosion performance of cryogenically layered DT implosions, characterized by the experimental Ignition Threshold Factor (ITFx) which is a function of dsr (or fuel {rho}R) and Y{sub n}, has improved almost two orders of magnitude since the first shot in September, 2010.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 1043648
• Report Number(s): LLNL-CONF-555952; TRN: US1203169
• Resource Relation: Conference: Presented at: 19th Topical Conference High-Temperature Plasma Diagnostics, Monterey, CA, United States, May 06 - May 10, 2012
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
42 ENGINEERING
ACCURACY
ATTENUATION
CALIBRATION
COMMISSIONING
ENERGY RANGE
GEOMETRY
IGNITION
IMPLOSIONS
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
ION TEMPERATURE
METRICS
NEUTRON SPECTRA
NEUTRON SPECTROSCOPY
NEUTRONS
PERFORMANCE
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
REDUNDANCY
SPECTROMETERS
TARGET CHAMBERS
US NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY