In situ calibration of charged particle spectrometers on the OMEGA Laser Facility using 241Am and 226Ra sources

Abstract

Charged particle spectrometry is a critical diagnostic to study inertial-confinement-fusion plasmas and high energy density plasmas. The OMEGA Laser Facility has two fixed magnetic charged particle spectrometers (CPSs) to measure MeV-ions. In situ calibration of these spectrometers was carried out using 241Am and 226Ra alpha emitters. The alpha emission spectrum from the sources was measured independently using surface-barrier detectors (SBDs). The energy dispersion and broadening of the CPS systems were determined by comparing the CPS measured alpha spectrum to that of the SBD. The calibration method significantly constrains the energy dispersion, which was previously obtained through the measurement of charged particle fusion products. Overall, a small shift of 100 keV was observed between previous and the calibration done in this work.