A coded aperture with sub-mean free-path thickness for neutron implosion geometry imaging on inertial confinement fusion and inertial fusion energy experiments

Inertial confinement fusion and inertial fusion energy experiments diagnose the geometry of the fusion region through imaging of the neutrons released through fusion reactions. Pinhole arrays typically used for such imaging require thick substrates to obtain high contrast along with a small pinhole diameter to obtain high resolution capability, resulting in pinholes that have large aspect ratios. This leads to expensive pinhole arrays that have small solid angles and are difficult to align. Here, we propose a coded aperture with scatter and partial attenuation (CASPA) for fusion neutron imaging that relaxes the thick substrate requirement for good image contrast. These coded apertures are expected to scale to larger solid angles and are easier to align without sacrificing imaging resolution or throughput. We use Monte Carlo simulations (Geant4) to explore a coded aperture design to measure neutron implosion asymmetries on fusion experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and discuss the viability of this technique, matching the current nominal resolution of 10 µm. The results show that a 10 mm thick tungsten CASPA can image NIF implosions with neutron yields above 1014 with quality comparable to unprocessed data from a current NIF neutron imaging aperture. This CASPA substrate is 20 times thinner than the current aperture arrays for fusion neutron imaging and less than one mean free-path of 14.1 MeV neutrons through the substrate. Since the resolution, solid angle, and throughput are decoupled in coded aperture imaging, the resolution and solid angle achievable with future designs will be limited primarily by manufacturing capability.