Big Foot Target Shot
This colorized image of a NIF “Big Foot” deuterium-tritium (DT) implosion was taken on Feb. 7, 2016. The open target shroud, the ablation of a magnetic recoil neutron spectrometer foil holder, and the neutron imaging system nose cone can be seen at 9:00. The hardened gated x-ray imaging diagnostics are at 12:00 and 3:00. This shot was the Inertial Confinement Fusion program’s first layered DT fusion implosion using the Big Foot strategy in a sub-scale diamond ablator. This design uses a shortened three-shock pulse and a thinner DT ice layer that puts the fuel and the diamond ablator on a higher adiabat (internal capsule energy) than previous designs. The 5.75-millimeter diameter hohlraum used a low gas fill (0.3 mg/cc) to limit laser-plasma instability and cross-beam energy transfer. Credit: Don Jedlovec.
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