A linear electrostatic accelerator for education and advanced diagnostics development for OMEGA and the NIF

The MIT Linear Electrostatic Accelerator generates D-D and D-3He fusion products, which are used for development of nuclear diagnostics for OMEGA and the NIF. Fusion reaction rates of about 10$^{6}$ s$^{-1}$ are routinely achieved, and fluence and energy of the fusion products have been accurately characterized. Diagnostics developed and calibrated at this facility include CR-39 based charged-particle spectrometers, neutron detectors, and the particle Time-Of-Flight (pTOF) CVD-diamond-based bang time detector. The accelerator is also a vital tool in the education of graduate and undergraduate students at MIT. This work was supported in part by SNL, DOE, LLE and LLNL.