The temperature of laser-driven shock waves is of interest to inertial confinement fusion and high-energy-density physics. We report on a streaked optical pyrometer that measures the self-emission of laser-driven shocks simultaneously with a velocity interferometer system for any reflector (VISAR). Together these diagnostics are used to obtain the temporally and spatially resolved temperatures of approximately megabar shocks driven by the OMEGA laser. We provide a brief description of the diagnostic and how it is used with VISAR. Key spectral calibration results are discussed and important characteristics of the recording system are presented.

We have constructed two slightly different high-speed framing cameras for use on NOVA and the OMEGA Upgrade. Both units are based on the gating of a microchannel plate, with one detector having a pore length to diameter ratio half that of the other. We will discuss the factors limiting the temporal resolution of each detector and will compare the results of modeling with gate width measurements taken using a short-pulse laser. We will also compare time-resolved x-ray images recorded using one of these devices with data from an older (∼90 ps resolution) detector.

A neutron imaging diagnostic has recently been commissioned at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). This new system is an important diagnostic tool for inertial fusion studies at the NIF for measuring the size and shape of the burning DT plasma during the ignition stage of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) implosions. The imaging technique utilizes a pinhole neutron aperture, placed between the neutron source and a neutron detector. The detection system measures the two dimensional distribution of neutrons passing through the pinhole. This diagnostic has been designed to collect two images at two times. The long flight path for this diagnostic, 28 m, results in a chromatic separation of the neutrons, allowing the independently timed images to measure the source distribution for two neutron energies. Typically the first image measures the distribution of the 14 MeV neutrons and the second image of the 6-12 MeV neutrons. The combination of these two images has provided data on the size and shape of the burning plasma within the compressed capsule, as well as a measure of the quantity and spatial distribution of the cold fuel surrounding this core.

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The Laser Fusion Experiments Groups from the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have jointly developed an instrument capable of simultaneously space-, time-, and spectrally resolving x-ray emission from inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets. Uses of the instrument include framed imaging of line emission from fuel or shell dopants and monochromatic backlighting. The x-ray imaging is accomplished with a Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB)-type four-image microscope, which has a best spatial resolution of ∼5 μm and a sensitive energy range of ∼2–8 keV. Time-resolved x-ray images are obtained with a pair of custom framing cameras, each of which records two of the four images in two independent 80-ps time intervals. In addition, the energy range of the images can be restricted to a narrow (monochromatic) spectral range (∼10–100 eV) by the introduction of diffracting crystals. This technique has been demonstrated with an e-beam-generated dc x-ray source, and at the LANL Trident laser facility and the LLE OMEGA laser facility with x-rays from laser-produced plasmas.