Questions about the observations from NIF at LLNL

[1a2]

The NIF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility) is an experiment at the LLNL, using a 'target' filled with D-T in order to create nuclear fusion reactions. I was wondering what would be a way to examine the light emitted from the imploded plasma target there, what colors could we see, what time resolution would be required, and what other observations could we see?

 

[phyzguy]

The attached paper gives a status update of the work at NIF, as of 2013. Section III talks about some of the diagnostics used and gives references to papers with more detail. Since the plasma is quite hot, most of the EM radiation is in X-rays, not visible light. The graphs also give you information on the time scale, which is measured in nanoseconds.