Implosion anisotropy of neutron kinetic energy distributions as measured with the neutron time-of-flight diagnostics at the National Ignition Facility

ORAL

Abstract

Neutron kinetic energy distributions from fusion reactions are characterized predominantly by the excess energy, Q, of the fusion reaction and the variance of kinetic energy which is related to the thermal temperature of the plasma as shown by \emph{e.g.} Brysk\footnote{H. Brysk, \emph{Plasma Phys.,} {\bf 15} 611 (1973)}. High statistics, high quality neutron time-of-flight spectra obtained at the National Ignition Facility provide a means of measuring small changes to the neutron kinetic energy due to the spatial and temporal distribution of plasma temperature, density and velocity. The modifications to the neutron kinetic energy distribution as described by Munro\footnote{D. H. Munro, \emph{Nucl. Fusion,} {\bf 56} (2016) 036001} include plasma velocity terms with spatial orientation, suggesting that the neutron kinetic energy distributions could be anisotropic when viewed by multiple lines-of-sight. These anisotropies provide a diagnostic of burn averaged plasma velocity distributions. We present the results of measurements made for a variety of DT implosions and discuss their possible physical interpretations.

*This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.

Authors

  • Edward Hartouni

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
  • Mark Eckart

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
  • John Field

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
  • Gary Grim

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
  • Robert Hatarik

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • Alastair Moore

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • David Munro

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
  • Daniel Sayer

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
  • David Schlossberg

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab