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The convergent ablator experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) are designed to measure the peak velocity and remaining ablator mass of an indirectly driven imploding capsule. Such a measurement can be performed using an x-ray source to backlight the capsule and an x-ray streak camera to record the capsule as it implodes. The ultimate goal of this experiment is to achieve an accuracy of 2% in the velocity measurement, which translates to a {+-}2 ps temporal accuracy over any 300 ps interval for the streak camera. In order to achieve this, a 4-{omega} (263nm) temporal fiducial system has been implemented for the x-ray streak camera at NIF. Aluminum, Titanium, Gold and Silver photocathode materials have been tested. Aluminum showed the highest quantum efficiency, with five times more peak signal counts per fiducial pulse when compared to Gold. The fiducial pulse data was analyzed to determine the centroiding a statistical accuracy for incident laser pulse energies of 1 and 10 nJ, showing an accuracy of {+-}1.6 ps and {+-}0.7 ps respectively.

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The compact Wedge Range Filter (WRF) proton spectrometer was developed for OMEGA and transferred to the National Ignition Facility (NIF) as a National Ignition Campaign (NIC) diagnostic. The WRF measures the spectrum of protons from D-{sup 3}He reactions in tuning-campaign implosions containing D and {sup 3}He gas; in this work we report on the first proton spectroscopy measurement on the NIF using WRFs. The energy downshift of the 14.7-MeV proton is directly related to the total {rho}R through the plasma stopping power. Additionally, the shock proton yield is measured, which is a metric of the final merged shock strength.

The particle-time-of-flight (pTOF) diagnostic, fielded alongside a Wedge Range-Filter (WRF) proton spectrometer, will provide an absolute timing for the shock-burn weighted {rho}R measurements that will validate the modeling of implosion dynamics at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). In the first phase of the project, pTOF has recorded accurate bang times in cryogenic DT, DT-Exploding Pusher and D{sup 3}He implosions using DD or DT neutrons with an accuracy better than {+-}70 ps. In the second phase of the project, a deflecting magnet will be incorporated into the pTOF design for simultaneous measurements of shock- and compression-bang times in D{sup 3}He-filled surrogate implosions using D{sup 3}He protons and DD-neutrons, respectively.

DT neutron yield (Y{sub n}), ion temperature (T{sub i}) and down-scatter ratio (dsr) determined from measured neutron spectra are essential metrics for diagnosing the performance of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) implosions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). A suite of neutron-Time-Of-Flight (nTOF) spectrometers and a Magnetic Recoil Spectrometer (MRS) have been implemented in different locations around the NIF target chamber, providing good implosion coverage and the redundancy required for reliable measurements of Yn, Ti and dsr. From the measured dsr value, an areal density ({rho}R) is determined from the relationship {rho}R{sub tot} (g/cm{sup 2}) = (20.4 {+-} 0.6) x dsr{sub 10-12 MeV}. The proportionality constant is determined considering implosion geometry, neutron attenuation and energy range used for the dsr measurement. To ensure high accuracy in the measurements, a series of commissioning experiments using exploding pushers have been used for in situ calibration. The spectrometers are now performing to the required accuracy, as indicated by the good agreement between the different measurements over several commissioning shots. In addition, recent data obtained with the MRS and nTOFs indicate that the implosion performance of cryogenically layered DT implosions, characterized by the experimental Ignition Threshold Factor (ITFx) which is a function of dsr (or …

Ultra fast x-ray streak cameras are a staple for time resolved x-ray measurements. There is a need for a ten inch manipulator (TIM) based streak camera that can be fielded in a newer large scale laser facility. The LLNL ultra fast streak camera's drive electronics have been upgraded and redesigned to fit inside a TIM tube. The camera also has a new user interface that allows for remote control and data acquisition. The system has been outfitted with a new sensor package that gives the user more operational awareness and control.

The volumetric heating of a thin copper target has been studied with time resolved x-ray spectroscopy. The copper target was heated from a plasma produced using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Compact Multipulse Terrawatt (COMET) laser. A variable spaced grating spectrometer coupled to an x-ray streak camera measured soft x-ray emission (800-1550 eV) from the back of the copper target to characterize the bulk heating of the target. Radiation hydrodynamic simulations were modeled in 2-dimensions using the HYDRA code. The target conditions calculated by HYDRA were post-processed with the atomic kinetics code CRETIN to generate synthetic emission spectra. A comparison between the experimental and simulated spectra indicates the presence of specific ionization states of copper and the corresponding electron temperatures and ion densities throughout the laser-heated copper target.