Design of Neutron Imaging Aperture for Inertial Confinement Fusion in Laser Fusion Research Center

Neutron Imaging System (NIS) has been used to image the burn volume and cold fuel volume of imploding fusion capsules. In this work, we present a design of neutron imaging aperture for inertial confinement fusion in Laser Fusion Research Center. Since the total neutron yield should be less than 10¹⁴, the penumbral aperture has been chosen. A geometric model has been developed to assess the performance of the neutron imaging system, including the spatial resolution, the field of view and the signal-to-noise ratio. This model reproduces the performances of neutron image systems on OMEGA. The spatial resolution of designed NIS is about 22 μm for a field of view of 250 μm. The signal-to-noise ratio can be better than 10, if the neutron yield is higher than 10¹³.