The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is currently the world's most powerful laser, capable of producing very large quantities of neutrons via the fusion of deuterium and tritium fuel.  The neutron luminosity of a NIF ignition can produce observable concentrations of activation products from nanogram quantities of radiochemical detector isotopes loaded in the innermost layer of the capsule ablator (closest to the DT fuel) or on the outside of the hohlraum.  The production of 14 MeV neutrons in a single pulse creates an opportunity to measure neutron activation and neutron capture reaction rates in an environment where the contribution from lower-energy, scattered neutrons is insignificant.      Using the Solid Radiochemistry (SRC) and Radiochemical Analysis of Gaseous Species (RAGS) diagnostics at NIF, initial results obtained during high neutron yield shots have shown collection of activated hohlraum material, as well as neutron capture products both in the hohlraum and in the collector material itself.  As neutron yields continue to increase, there is also the possibility of measuring cross sections from excited nuclear states.  These results motivate using NIF as a source for the measurement of nuclear data that is not obtainable at traditional reactor or accelerator facilities.  This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Radiochemical measurements of neutron reaction products at the National Ignition Facility

248th National Meeting (2014)

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