The Nevarro target has been successfully shot on First Light Fusion's large gas gun, resulting in detection of fusion neutrons. This report presents an overview of the neutron diagnostics from hydrodynamic simulation of the experiment, which resulted in a yield prediction of 39 neutrons, with lower and upper bounds of 19 and 43 neutrons respectively. In-depth probing of the burn weighted average (BWA) quantities of the plasma reveals that in the nest resolution simulation, neutrons are emitted from a region of plasma with average density 2500 kg per cubic metre, ion temperature 240 eV and a volume equivalent to a sphere of radius 2.2 m. The predicted neutron yield lies within the error bars of the experiment carried out on the BFG [1]. As the simulations do not contain any physical processes that can produce neutrons other than through thermonuclear fusion reactions, this is indicative that the experimentally observed neutrons are thermonuclear in origin.
Year
2022