Neutron bang time detector based on a light pipe.

A neutron bang time detector consisting of a scintillator, light pipe, photomultiplier tube (PMT), and high-bandwidth oscilloscope has been implemented on the 60-beam, 30-kJ OMEGA Laser Facility at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Light from the scintillator, located 23 cm from the target, is transmitted outside the target bay through a 9.6-m-long, 2-in.-diam polished stainless steel pipe to the PMT. The PMT signal is recorded by two channels of a 6-GHz, 10-GS/s Tektronix 6604 oscilloscope. The OMEGA optical fiducial pulse train is recorded on the third oscilloscope channel using a fast photodiode to provide the timing reference to the laser. The bang-time detector is absolutely calibrated in time and is able to measure bang time for neutron yields above 1 x 10{sup 9} with accuracy of better than 25 ps.