Design of an electronic charged particle spectrometer to measure 〈ρ𝓡〉 on inertial fusion experiments

Abstract

The design and fabrication of a new diagnostic that measures the energy spectra of charged particles from targets on the Omega Upgrade are actively underway. Using seven 512×512 charge coupled devices (CCDs) and a 7.5 kG permanent magnet, this instrument will uniquely determine particle identities and measure particle energies from 1 MeV up to the maximum charged particle energies of interest for ρR measurements (10.6 MeV knock-on tritons, 12.5 MeV knock-on deuterons and 30.8 MeV tertiary protons). The resolution of the diagnostic will be better than 5%. We have tested the response of SITe back-illuminated CCDs to 1.2–13.6 MeV protons from our Cockcroft–Walton accelerator and to alpha particles from an Am241 source, and the results agree extremely well with predictions. With its high density picture elements, each CCD has 105 single-hit detectors. In the case of a low DT yield of 109 neutrons, about 100 knock-on charged particles will be detected when the spectrometer aperture is 60 cm from the implosion. Measurements of ρR up to 150 mg/cm2 can be obtained from knock-on D and T spectra, and values up to 300 mg/cm2 can be determined from secondary proton spectra. The sensitivity of the CCDs to 14 and 2.5 MeV neutrons has been experimentally determined using our Cockcroft–Walton accelerator source and indicates that by incorporating neutron shielding, the signal to neutron noise ratio at a yield of 1011 will be better than 100:1. In the development phases of this program, we plan to utilize CR-39 track detectors concurrently with the CCDs.