Inferring fusion nuclear burnwidths with low gain photomultiplier impulse response functions

When an inertial confinement fusion implosion is compressed, it maintains thermonuclear density and temperatures for a very short time scale, about 100 ps. The Gamma Reaction History diagnostic measures the time evolution of the fusion burn, but its temporal resolution is limited by the use of a photomultiplier tube (PMT) to amplify the photon signal. Multichannel plate-based PMTs have a fast (∼120 ps) full-width at half-max impulse response function (IRF), but the time scale is similar to the incoming physics signal. An analysis routine is used to remove the effect of the PMT IRF and infer the incident fusion burnwidth. With the National Ignition Facility achieving ignition and creating much brighter signals, the PMTs are run at gains three orders of magnitude lower than nominal operation. Calibration at these settings shows the PMT IRFs get ∼15% wider. Taking the gain-dependent IRF can affect the inferred nuclear burnwidths by up to ∼15%.

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Publication Details

Journal
Review of Scientific Instruments
Published
2024-12-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0213471
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.32

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article

Inferring fusion nuclear burnwidths with low gain photomultiplier impulse response functions

H. W. Herrmann, M. J. Eckart, Y. Kim, D. J. Schlossberg et al.
2 citations
Review of Scientific Instruments
Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics
1.32
article

Inferring fusion nuclear burnwidths with low gain photomultiplier impulse response functions

H. W. Herrmann, M. J. Eckart, Y. Kim, D. J. Schlossberg, A. S. Moore, E. Mariscal, D. Holdener, P. L. Hink, K. D. Meaney, Hermann Geppert-Kleinrath, J. Jeet, J. Carrera, J. Milnes, Patrick Hillyard
article en
2 citations

Abstract

When an inertial confinement fusion implosion is compressed, it maintains thermonuclear density and temperatures for a very short time scale, about 100 ps. The Gamma Reaction History diagnostic measures the time evolution of the fusion burn, but its temporal resolution is limited by the use of a photomultiplier tube (PMT) to amplify the photon signal. Multichannel plate-based PMTs have a fast (∼120 ps) full-width at half-max impulse response function (IRF), but the time scale is similar to the incoming physics signal. An analysis routine is used to remove the effect of the PMT IRF and infer the incident fusion burnwidth. With the National Ignition Facility achieving ignition and creating much brighter signals, the PMTs are run at gains three orders of magnitude lower than nominal operation. Calibration at these settings shows the PMT IRFs get ∼15% wider. Taking the gain-dependent IRF can affect the inferred nuclear burnwidths by up to ∼15%.

Review of Scientific InstrumentsVol. 95(12)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US), Los Alamos National Laboratory (US), Nevada National Security Site (US), Photek (United Kingdom) (GB)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 10%
Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics
1.32
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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