Inertial Confinement Fusion neutron spectrometer redesign simulations with Geant4
Inertial Confinement Fusi...

Inertial Confinement Fusion neutron spectrometer redesign simulations with Geant4

We are seeking a UROP to work on this redesign through simulations using the Geant4 toolkit installed on our Linux cluster. As a first step, this will involve varying simulation setup parameters and compare results to recently obtained calibration data to ensure full understanding of the system as built.

Posting date: May 14, 2024

Johan Frenje
Senior Research Scientist
and
Head, High-energy Density Physics
Overview

The High-Energy-Density Physics (HEDP) Division of the PSFC designs and implements, and performs theoretical calculations for, experiments at the OMEGA laser facility in Rochester, New York, and the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California. These experiments aim to study and explore the dynamics and properties of plasmas under extreme conditions of density (~1000 g/cc), pressure (~ 1000 gigabar), and field strength (~megagauss). These conditions encompass Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) as well as many astrophysical phenomena, including collisionless shocks, magnetic reconnection, and nuclear astrophysics. As part of the directly ICF-relevant effort, the group has installed the MRS neutron spectrometer at OMEGA to measure the yield, ion temperature and confinement properties of ICF ignition experiments. This spectrometer measures neutron spectra from the primary cryogenically layered DT implosions on OMEGA, such as described in Ref. [1].

The OMEGA MRS has traditionally primarily measured yield and confinement, but has also been proposed as a means of measuring ion temperature [2]. To accomplish this, the detector array needs to be redesigned to improve the resolution in the measurements. We are seeking a UROP to work on this redesign through simulations using the Geant4 toolkit installed on our Linux cluster. As a first step, this will involve varying simulation setup parameters and compare results to recently obtained calibration data to ensure full understanding of the system as built. A redesign can then be implemented along the lines proposed in Ref. [2]. If a promising redesign can be found, there is potential for the results to be written up for Review of Scientific Instruments.

[1] V. Gopalaswamy et al., Nature 565, 581 (2019).
[2] M. Gatu Johnson et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 89, 10I129 (2018).

Sample of the instrumentation for this project
Neutron spectrometer detector targeted for redesign in this project.

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