Planar Rotator for Spherical Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Targets

The success of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is highly dependent on physical parameters of the capsule such as defect content, layer thickness, sphericity, and dopant concentration. Metrology of these parameters requires high precision control of the target's polar and azimuthal angles to orient it consistently for measurement. Prior solutions utilize goniometers and vacuum suction, but this system is bulky and not applicable to procedures conducted within a vacuum. Additionally, the orientation of the capsule is often adjusted manually, which is less precise and requires significant time. We have developed an apparatus which provides control of the polar and azimuthal angles in a significantly reduced size and without relying on vacuum suction. This rotator may be useful in combination with many metrology instruments for precise positioning of the ICF capsules. We are going to cover the design and performed characterization of the planar rotator performance and discuss its implementation into production metrology.