Recent Development of the CMOS Camera-Based Film Digitization Platform for Gated Xray Framing Camera Diagnostics

Gated X-ray framing cameras at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) are used to observe time

resolved 2D images of X-ray emission from, or passing through, high energy dense plasmas. In

the context of inertial confinement fusion (ICF), framing cameras are used to measure the

temporal evolution of X-ray emission from the hot spot at stagnation for high fusion energy

experiments and the time resolved capsule inflight trajectory for 2D radiograph tuning

experiments. For NIF experiments with neutron yields above 1013, photographic film is used to

record data which is less sensitive to neutron radiation than charged-coupled devices (CCD) [1].

This work describes the recent characterization efforts of the Digital Transitions (DT) Atom, a

film digitization platform that captures film data with a 150 Megapixel camera and may serve as

a competitive alternative to the Photometric Data Systems (PDS) microdensitometer. The DT

Atom has the advantage of faster digitization lead times, readily available user support and

maintenance, and variable magnification settings that do not impact the digitization lead time.

All these features have the potential to improve the efficiency in operating and maintaining a

film digitization platform at the NIF.