The Kirkpatrick Baez Optic (KBO) diagnostic designed for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) requires very precise alignment between four pairs of mirrors that make up four x-ray imaging channels. Furthermore, the overlapping image axis of the four pairs must be aligned to within a 50 μm radius of the NIF target center. In order to achieve this the diagnostic utilizes a telescoping snout that when extended, locates the mirrors at the end of a Diagnostic Load Package (DLP), cantilevered more than three meters out from its bolted connection points. Discussed in this paper are the structural challenges and the mechanical design solutions that were implemented to achieve the ±50 μm pointing accuracy. During an Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) experiment, the KBO diagnostic will be 117 mm away from the extremely high impulse, target implosion shock wave, which requires a unique approach to protecting the sensitive optics which will also be discussed.

Date Published: 10 September 2014
PDF: 16 pages
Proc. SPIE 9211, Target Diagnostics Physics and Engineering for Inertial Confinement Fusion III, 92110C (10 September 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2065253

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9211:
Target Diagnostics Physics and Engineering for Inertial Confinement Fusion III
Perry M. Bell; Gary P. Grim, Editor(s)