The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a 1.8 MJ, 192 beam laser that has been in use since 2009. A comprehensive set of about sixty diagnostics has been installed with major contributions from the users outside of LLNL. New diagnostics have been developed and tested on smaller facilities at Universities, Companies and then integrated into the NIF facility.  The scientists who have created the science and technology of the new diagnostics have become integral to the science programs on NIF.  Some examples are:            -Time gated x-ray imaging has been extended from 100 psec to 10 psec by scientists at General Atomics and Kentech Instruments Ltd in the UK, using drift tube time dilation. Working with LLNL scientists this technology is used in the DIXI diagnostic which is now operational on NIF taking time gated imaging as short as 10 psec, a requirement now the neutron yield approaches 1016. A related instrument will be operational in a DIM, TIM or a SID allowing a Single Line of Sight framing camera or a DIXI close to target chamber center.            -Neutron spectroscopy has been developed by scientists at MIT and the University of Rochester. A magnetic recoil spectrometer (MRS) was first tested on OMEGA. Another MRS was designed and built by MIT and U of R staff and working with LLNL scientist installed on the NIF. Time integrated neutron spectra are now recorded from below 6 MeV to well above 14 MeV.            -Gamma spectroscopy has been developed by scientists at LANL, LLNL and GA. A prototype Gamma Reaction History (GRH) diagnostic was tested at OMEGA. A GRH was then installed on NIF. GRH now measures 17 MeV burn gammas but also 4.4 MeV neutron induced carbon gammas. The yields are increasing and GRH higher resolution gamma spectroscopy developed by LANL and GA will measure neutron induced gamma spectroscopy allowing time resolved mix measurements.  A new set of diagnostics will need to be installed on the NIF over the next decade. A community program is developing the new instruments which will extend the science program on the NIF.

Diagnostics on the National Ignition Facility have built the user community

248th National Meeting (2014)

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