Imaging VISAR diagnostic for the National Ignition Facility (NIF)

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) requires diagnostics to analyze high-energy density physics experiments. A VISAR (Velocity Interferometry System for Any Reflector) diagnostic has been designed to measure shock velocities, shock breakout times, and shock emission of targets with sizes from 1 to 5 mm. An 8-inch-diameter fused silica triplet lens collects light at f/3 inside the 30-foot-diameter vacuum chamber. The optical relay sends the image out an equatorial port, through a 2-inch-thick vacuum window, and into two interferometers. A 60-kW VISAR probe laser operates at 659.5 nm with variable pulse width. Special coatings on the mirrors and cutoff filters are used to reject the NIF drive laser wavelengths and to pass a band of wavelengths for VISAR, passive shock breakout light, or thermal imaging light (bypassing the interferometers). The first triplet can be no closer than 500 mm from the target chamber center and is protected from debris by a blast window that is replaced after every event. The front end of the optical relay can be temporarily removed from the equatorial port, allowing other experimenters to use that port. A unique resolution pattern has been designed to validate the VISAR diagnostic before each use. All optical lenses are on kinematic mounts so that the pointing accuracy of the optical axis can be checked. Seven CCD cameras monitor the diagnostic alignment.