Prototypes of National Ignition Facility neutron time-of-flight detectors tested on OMEGA

Prototypes of several National Ignition Facility (NIF) neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) detectors have been built and tested on OMEGA. One group uses a plastic scintillator coupled with a microchannel plate (MCP) photomultiplier tube (PMT), either a single-stage (gain up to 10(3)) MCP PMT and a two-stage (gain up to 10(6)) MCP PMT. Two ultrafast scintillators-BC-422 and BC-422Q-were used. Another nTOF prototype is based on a synthetic diamond wafer produced by the chemical vapor deposition. The nTOF detectors were tested on DD (2.45 MeV) and DT (14.1 MeV) neutron-producing implosions on OMEGA. Based on the results of these tests, a set of nTOF detectors is proposed for use on the NIF to measure ion temperature and DD and DT neutron yields from 10(9) to 10(19). (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.