A new neutron time-of-flight detector for yield and ion-temperature measurements at the OMEGA Laser Facility

A new neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) detector for deuterium–deuterium (DD)-fusion yield and ion-temperature measurements was designed, installed, and calibrated for the OMEGA Laser Facility. This detector provides an additional line of sight for DD neutron yield and ion-temperature measurements for y...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of scientific instruments 2022-09, Vol.93 (9), p.093522-093522
Main Authors: Glebov, V. Yu, Forrest, C. J., Kendrick, J., Knauer, J. P., Mannion, O. M., McClow, H., Regan, S. P., Stoeckl, C., Stanley, B., Theobald, W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Deuterium
Implosions
Ion temperature
Line of sight
Photomultiplier tubes
Response functions
Scientific apparatus & instruments
Scintillation counters
Sensors
Tritium
X-rays
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Summary:A new neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) detector for deuterium–deuterium (DD)-fusion yield and ion-temperature measurements was designed, installed, and calibrated for the OMEGA Laser Facility. This detector provides an additional line of sight for DD neutron yield and ion-temperature measurements for yields exceeding 1 × 1010 with higher precision than existing detectors. The nTOF detector consists of a 90-mm-diam, 20-mm-thick BC-422 scintillator and a gated Photek photomultiplier tube (PMT240). The PMT collects scintillating light through the 20-mm side of the scintillator without the use of a light guide. There is no lead shielding from hard x rays in order to allow the x-ray instrument response function of the detector to be measured easily. Instead, hard x-ray signals generated in implosion experiments are gated out by the PMT. The design provides a place for glass neutral-density filters between the scintillator and the PMT to avoid PMT saturation at high yields. The nTOF detector is installed in the OMEGA Target Bay along the P8A sub-port line of sight at a distance of 5.3 m from the target chamber center. In addition to DD measurements, the same detector can be used to measure the neutron yield and ion temperature from deuterium–tritium (DT) implosion targets in the 5 × 1010 to 2 × 1012 yield range. The design details and the calibration results of this nTOF detector for both D2 and DT implosions on OMEGA will be presented.
ISSN:0034-6748
1089-7623
DOI:10.1063/5.0101514