Mach-Zehnder detector system issues and enhancements for use on the National Ignition Facility DANTE x-ray diagnostic

We present lessons learned from the fielding of various Mach-Zehnder (MZ) based diagnostic systems on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and potential solutions. The DANTE X-ray diagnostic is the next in a series of applications for Mach-Zehnder based signal transport and acquisition systems on NIF and as such will incorporate many of these upgrades. In addition to extended dynamic-range performance and improved reliability, the upgrades presented also enable multiplexing of the signals from DANTE’s 18 X-Ray Diodes (XRD) to economize on system cost and rack space. Previous deployments on other NIF diagnostics highlighted the necessity to decouple the input light intensity from the bias point of the Mach-Zehnder. Areas of concern including polarization, temperature, bias point and optical power level control will be addressed.