Note: A monoenergetic proton backlighter for the National Ignition Facility

A monoenergetic, isotropic proton source suitable for proton radiography applications has been demonstrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). A deuterium and helium-3 gas-filled glass capsule was imploded with 39 kJ of laser energy from 24 of NIF's 192 beams. Spectral, spatial, and temporal measurements of the 15-MeV proton product of the He-3(d,p)He-4 nuclear reaction reveal a bright (10(10) protons/sphere), monoenergetic (Delta E/E = 4%) spectrum with a compact size (80 mu m) and isotropic emission (similar to 13% proton fluence variation and <0.4% mean energy variation). Simultaneous measurements of products produced by the D(d,p)T and D(d,n)He-3 reactions also show 2 x 10(10) isotropically distributed 3-MeV protons. (C) 2015 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.