The thermonuclear yield from deuterium-filled capsule implosions driven by Z-pinch dynamic hohlraums on an 8-MA pulsed power facility is diagnosed by Ag activation and neutron time-of-flight (nTOF). However, both detector systems suffer from an excessive bremsstrahlung background. Tests on the Ag activation system suggest that the facility may produce such an intense super-MeV x-ray background that the resulting photonuclear-excitation reactions can overwhelm the potential neutron signal. In the nTOF detectors, the high bremsstrahlung background generates such an excessive afterglow in the scintillator that confirming any thermonuclear yield may require a liquid scintillator with a much lower afterglow together with a gated photomultiplier.
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