Orateur
Description
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is capable of producing a plasma with temperatures ~10 keV, particle densities ~10^32 m-3, and neutron fluxes of up to 10^34 m^-2 s^-1. These features, combined with the advanced x-ray, neutron and radiochemistry diagnostics that are available at the NIF, make it uniquely suitable for carrying out experiments to investigate interactions between Plasma Physics and Nuclear Physics. The plasmas at the NIF are produced by using the laser to compress capsules (diameter ~1 mm) containing deuterium or deuterium-tritium fuel on timescales of ~1 ns, resulting in a neutron source of ~100 μm in diameter and duration ~100 ps. Trace amounts of various isotopes can also be added to the capsule. The hot plasma environment can populate excited nuclear states of these isotopes which can then undergo neutron capture reactions. Experiments using the Tm171 isotope are underway to develop a reliable platform on the NIF for measuring capture cross sections of excited state nuclei.
