Design calculations for a xenon plasma x-ray shield to protect the NIF optical Thomson scattering diagnostic

An Optical Thomson Scattering (OTS) diagnostic is currently being developed for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This diagnostic is designed to make measurements of the hohlraum plasma parameters, such as the electron temperature and the density, during inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. NIF ICF experiments present a very challenging environment for optical measurements; by their very nature, hohlraums produce intense soft x-ray emission, which can cause “blanking” (radiation induced opacity) of the radiation facing optical components. The soft x-ray fluence at the surface of the OTS blast shield, 60 cm from the hohlraum, is estimated to be ∼8 J cm−2. This is significantly above the expected threshold for the onset of “blanking” effects. A novel xenon plasma x-ray shield is proposed to protect the blast shield from x-rays and mitigate “blanking.” Estimates suggest that an areal density of 1019 cm−2 Xe atoms will be sufficient to absorb 99.5% of the soft x-ray flux. Two potential designs for this shield are presented.