Abstract
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) provides an opportunity to study nuclear physics at thermonuclear conditions. The main diagnostics for measuring nuclear processes in ICF experiments are neutrons and gamma rays. Gamma-ray diagnostics provide fast measurements of the nuclear reaction rate of the fusion fuel, as neutron well as scattering from (n,n’) and (n,γ) reactions. Gas Cherenkov detectors are the main gamma-ray diagnostic at the OMEGA laser facility with three separate detectors available. These detectors can be independently thresholded which enables rough spectral resolution and low-background measurements. Recently these diagnostics have been used to measure high energy gamma rays from neutron scattering on high-Z materials. This capability has also been used to design a new experiment campaign, leveraging the OMEGA-laser facility’s unique capability to measure the D(T,γ)5He branching ratio as a function of the thermal ion temperature, and the D(D,γ)4He branching ratio. These measurements will provide high-fidelity nuclear data at conditions that have not been probed at accelerator facilities, providing valuable data and insight to the nuclear structure of the 5He and 4He nuclei.
*This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Los Alamos National Lab under Contract No. 89233218CNA000001This publication was prepared as an account of work conducted by the Laboratory for Laser Energetics and their sponsors. Neither the sponsors nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the sponsors or any agency thereof.
