NIF-0096141-OA Prop Simulations of NEL PBRS Measurements

Portable Back Reflection Sensor, PBRS, (NEL only) and Quad Back Reflection Sensor, QBRS, time delay reflectometer traces are among the most useful diagnostics of NIF laser status available. NEL PBRS measurements show several signals reaching the detector for each shot. The time delay between signals suggests that the largest of these is due to energy at the spatial filter pinhole planes leaking into adjacent pinholes and traveling back upstream to the PBRS. Prop simulations agree with current PBRS measurements to within 50%. This suggests that pinhole leakage is the dominant source of energy at the PBRS. However, the simulations predict that the energy leakage is proportional to beam output energy, while the PBRS measurements increase more slowly (''saturate''). Further refinement of the model or the measurement may be necessary to resolve this discrepancy.