DIAGNOSTICS FOR HIGH-DENSITY IMPLOSIONS AT NOVA AND THE NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY

The proposed National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a large (1.8 MJ on ta rget at 0.35 mu m) multi-beam laser facility that will be used for Ine rtial Confinement Fusion (ICF). ICF implosions at this facility will p roduce core plasma temperatures over 10 keV and densities over 100 g/c m(3). Properties of these plasmas can be measured by a variety of opti cal, X-ray, and nuclear diagnostic techniques such as those used at ex isting facilities like the Nova laser at the Lawrence Livermore Nation al Laboratory (LLNL). Some of these currently used techniques will be directly applicable to NIF; others require significant development. Da mage of components close to the target will be a much greater issue at NIF; necessitating the development of distant detector techniques. To penetrate the larger targets, X-ray-based core diagnostics will need to utilize substantially higher energies than are in routine use today . Penetrating nuclear particle-based diagnostics will be particularly well suited to these implosions and thp higher nuclear yields will all ow new techniques to be developed. Some examples of diagnostics used f or high-density implosion experiments at Nova and corresponding develo pment of new techniques for NIF are discussed.