UV/IR Filaments for High Resolution Novel Spectroscopic Interrogation of Plumes on Nuclear Materials

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a steady development of techniques to detect nuclear and radiological materials at standoff distances for nuclear nonproliferation and national security. These techniques include neutron detectors [1] and gamma-ray detectors [2] which require the production of highly energetic (MeV) electron beams, by large, heavy accelerators. An investigation of several technique involving either a light filament, or a combination of light filaments, was made. The objective was to evaluate linear and nonlinear techniques that can be exploited for remote sensing with filaments. A long term objective was to obtain a remote signature of both the chemical composition and isotopic content of materials that result from the decay of radioactive materials involved in a nuclear explosion. New diagnostic techniques were developed leading to a better understanding of filaments. These include influence of polarization, with either standard initial condition (beam focalization in air) or controlled initial condition (launching filaments from a focal spot in vacuum), developing a new video technique to visualize the evolution of the filamented pulse and plasma emission in time, space and frequency. Developments of a new source confirmed the creation of non diffracting ultraviolet filament, i.e. pulses of slightly less than 200 ps and 200 mJ energy, at 266 nm, confined to less than 1 mm diameter by nonlinear interaction with air, reported earlier [3].

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2016
Accession Number
AD1011291

Entities

People

  • Adam Hecht
  • Jean-claude Diels
  • Ladan Arissian
  • Matthias Lenzner

Organizations

  • University of New Mexico

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Detectors
  • Diffraction
  • Electromagnetic Scattering
  • Laser Beams
  • Laser Diodes
  • Laser Pulses
  • Lasers
  • Light Sources
  • Measurement
  • Nonlinear Optics
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Refractive Index
  • Remote Sensing
  • Scattering
  • Two Dimensional
  • Wave Mixing

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Nuclear and Radiation Engineering.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Microelectronics
  • Space