NIF Dante Soft X-Ray Diagnostic Fielding and Analysis

Summary form only given. ICF indirect-drive experiments using half hohlraums have been performed at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) employing four NIF beams, producing laser energies up to 17 kJ. In order to measure radiation drive temperatures produced in the halfraums, an 18-channel soft X-ray spectrometer, called DANTE, was used. This diagnostic was based on an earlier 12-channel version, which has been fielded on Nova and Omega. NIF-DANTE was designed to measure photon energies from 50 eV-20 keV in order to be able to quantify 99% of the flux from a full-NIF driven hohlraum. In order to obtain reliable measurements strict calibration and documentation procedures were implemented and DANTE was inspected for damage after every shot. Software deconvolution was used to compensate for signal deterioration due to the use of long (160 ft) signal cable and oscilloscope response. Using this instrument temporally resolved flux measurements were made for halfraums reaching a maximum radiation temperature of 350 eV with pulse lengths ranging from 1 ns to 9 ns. The obtained results agree with LASNEX calculations of the drive. The presented data will include a detailed description of DANTE as well as the calibration procedure for the individual components. An estimation of the system error due to calibration error and partial damage will be shown as well as the deconvolution process and the total error of the resulting radiation drive profile