Neutron Measurements in Small MagLIF Experiments on OMEGA

The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) is participating in laser-driven magnetized linear inertial fusion (MagLIF) research on the OMEGA Laser System in partnership with Sandia as part of ARPA-E's ALPHA Program. In the current OMEGA setup, a CH cylindrical tube filled with D$_{\mathrm{2}}$ gas is compressed by 40 laser beams, preheated by one of the beams, and an axial magnetic field is applied to limit electron heat loss. Two copper coils provide 10-T magnetic fields. A neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) detector has been designed, fabricated, and calibrated to diagnose primary D--D fusion neutron yield in the range of 1 \texttimes 10$^{\mathrm{7}}$ to 5 \texttimes 10$^{\mathrm{9}}$ and ion temperature from 2 to 8 keV. The design details and calibration results of these nTOF detectors will be presented together with neutron measurement results from recent laser-driven MagLIF experiments on OMEGA. The information, data, or work presented herein was funded in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number DE-AR0000568, and the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0001944.