Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Diagnostics
Overview- NIF Diagnostics and the National Ignition CampaignThe NIF diagnostic program is driven by the requirements of NNSA programs, particularly the National Ignition Campaign (NIC) and the Science Campaigns. The NIC is a national effort with three major goals: demonstrating ignition, developing a reliable and repeatable platform for burning plasma experiments, and installing the baseline diagnostics, user optics, and other infrastructure required to operate NIF as a user facility.
The NIC is executed via three major integrated experimental teams (IET's) with associated major experimental platforms. The NIC is broken into 3 IET's:
- Hohlraum energetics: The hohlraum energetics IET develops the radiation drive required to successfully compress cryogenic deuterium–tritium-filled capsules to ignition conditions. In the course of this work, the IET will investigate laser-plasma interactions and other issues underlying the development of the required radiation drive.
- Capsule Tuning: The capsule tuning IET uses the drive developed by the energetics IET and tunes the laser, hohlraum, and capsule parameters to those required to produce the central "hot spot" needed for NIF ignition. The baseline NIF ignition target is a 4-shock system. The capsule IET develops the techniques required to tune ignition targets and executes the required tuning experiments.
- Implosion: The implosion IET conducts layered cryogenic implosions using the tuned laser, hohlraum, and capsule combination from the capsule IET. The implosion IET will initially execute experiments with a mix of primarily tritium and hydrogen, with deuterium in the 1% range. These lower-yield experiments will be used to verify the presence of the required "hot-spot." The deuterium fraction will then be increased as hydrogen is decreased to the point where ignition occurs.
Hohlraum energetics IET experiments were executed in FY2009, while capsule and implosion IET experiments will be the focus of FY2010 activities. The NIF diagnostic schedule is driven by the schedule of these IET's and the initial NNSA Science Campaigns experiments on NIF.
Planned NIF Diagnostics through FY2011
Table I identifies the NIF diagnostics planned through FY2011 and provides an estimated date for initial operation. The diagnostic location is given in terms of chamber coordinates described in Chamber Geometry. Diagnostics labeled "DIM" may be placed in the Diagnostic Instrument Manipulators initially located at ports (90,38), (90, 316), and (0,0). The latter is referred to as the "Polar DIM".
Figure 1 shows a schematic of some of the major early NIF diagnostics used for the FY2009 hohlraum energetics campaign. Figure 2 shows the location of major diagnostics to be used in the FY2010 NIC capsule tuning and implosion campaigns.
Figure 1: Layout of major diagnostics used in the FY2009 hohlraum energetics campaign.
A summary of NIF diagnostics through FY2012 is shown below:
| Diagnostic Name | Acronym | Purpose | Location | Available date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Static X-ray Imager (lower) | SXI-lower | Time integrated x-ray imager |
161,326 | Operational |
| Static X-ray Imager (upper) | SXI-upper | Time integrated x-ray imager |
18, 124 | Operational |
| DIM Insertable Streak Camera-1 | DISC1 | Time resolved x-ray camera | DIM based | Operational |
| DIM Insertable Streak Camera-2 | DISC2 | Time resolved x-ray camera | DIM based | Operational |
| Dante 1 (lower) | Dante-1 | Broad-band time resolved x-ray spectrometer- drive diagnostic- lower hemisphere | 143, 274 | Operational |
| Dante 2 (upper) | Dante-2 | Broad-band time resolved x-ray spectrometer - drive diagnostic - lower hemisphere | 64, 350 | Operational |
| Full Aperture Backscatter Station- Quad 31B | FABS 31B | Shape, power and spectrum of reflected light back into focus lens | 150, 236 | Operational |
| Full Aperture Backscatter Station- Quad 36B | FABS 36B | Shape, power and spectrum of reflected light back-scattered into focus lens | 130, 185 | Operational |
| Near Backscatter Imager – Quad 31B | NBI 31B | Power, spectrum and angular distribution of light back-scattered near lens | 150, 236 | Operational |
| Near Backscatter Imager – Quad 36B | NBI 36B | Power, spectrum and angular disribution of light back-scattered near lens | 130, 185 | Operational |
| Gated X-ray Detectors 1 and 2 | GXD1/GXD2 | Time gated x-ray detectors | DIM based | Operational |
| Filter Fluorescer | FFLEX | Broad-band high energy (20-400keV) x-ray spectrometer | 90, 110 | Operational |
| Electro-magnetic pulse | EMP | Chamber area electromagnetic emission detector | 102, 84 | Operational |
| Neutron Time of Flight- 4.5m | NTOF-4.5 | Neutron time of flight measurement - 4.5 meter for yield and bang time | 64, 253; 64, 275; 64, 309; 64, 330 | 2010 |
| Neutron Time of Flight- 20m | NTOF(20) | Neutron time of flight measurement - 20 meter for yield, down scatter fraction |
90, 174; 116, 316 | 2010 |
| Velocity Interferometer System for any Reflector | VISAR | Time resolved Doppler velocity camera | 90, 78 | 2010 |
| Streaked Optical Pyrometer | SOP | Time resolved optical camera | 90, 78 | 2010 |
| Gamma Ray History- 1 | GRH | Time and spectrally resolved gamma emission | 64, 20 | 2010 |
| Radiation Chemistry | Rad Chem1 | Neutron activation, gaseous collection | 2011 | |
| Radiation Chemistry | Rad Chem2 | Charged particle activation, solid collection | 2011 | |
| Advanced Radiographic Capability | ARC | High energy, short pulse backlighter - 2 views (additional views planned to be available) | 77, 204 | 2012 |
| Magnetic Recoil Spectrometer | MRS | Neutron spectrum - neutrons converted to protons, energy analyzed by magnetic deflection | 77, 324 | 2010 |
| Hardened X-ray Streak Camera | hSXD | Hardened time streaked x-ray camera | 7, 225 | 2011 |
| High Energy X-ray Imager |
HEXRI | High energy x-ray imaging system | 90, 78 | 2010 |
| Hardened High Energy X-ray Imager | HEXRI SE | Hardened version of HEXRI | 90, 78 | 2011 |
| Wedge Range Filter Spectrometer | WRF | Energy resolved particle emission- EMP insensitive | DIM based | 2010 |
| Neutron Imager | NI | Image primary and downscattered neutrons | 90, 315 | 2011 |
| Neutron Activation Detector | NAD | Absolute broad band neutron spectrometer by activation of witness foils | 2010 | |
| Thomson Scattering | TS | 4ω probe for measurement of plasma conditions | 2012 | |
| Hardened Gated X-ray Imager | h-GXI | hardened time gated detection | Operational | |
| South Pole Bang Time | SPBT | X-ray bang time along hohlraum axis | Operational |
For further information on scientific opportunities at the NIF, please contact:
Dr. Christopher J. Keane, LLNL
PHONE: (925) 422-2179
E-MAIL: Contact us
