Scintillating fiber imaging detector for 14-MeV neutrons

We have created a detector to image the neutrons emitted by imploded inertial-confinement fusion targets. The 14-MeV neutrons, which are produced by deuterium-tritium fusion events in the target, pass through an aperture to create an image on the detector. The neutron radiation is converted to blue light (430 nm) with a 20-cm-square array of plastic scintillating fibers. Each fiber is 10-cm long with a 1-mm-square cross section; approximately 35-thousand fibers make up the array. The resulting blue-light image is reduced and amplified by a sequence of fiber-optic tapers and image intensifiers, then acquired by a CCD camera. The fiber-optic readout system was tested optically for overall throughput and resolution. We plan to characterize the scintillator array using an ion-beam neutron source as well as DT-fusion neutrons emitted by inertial confinement targets. Characterization experiments will measure the light-production efficiency, spatial resolution, and neutron scattering within the detector. Several neutron images of laser-fusion targets have been obtained with the detector. We describe the detector and our characterization methods, present characterization results, and give examples of the neutron images.