Bulk perturbations (voids or crystalline structure) inside the ablator of a capsule used for inertial confinement fusion are seeds for instabilities that can hinder the ignition. The study of these defects and their evolution during the implosion is one of the steps needed to achieve fusion. The current methods used by the field are to infer these effects indirectly with measurements of implosion velocity and neutron yield, among others. Observing them directly with an x-ray imaging diagnostic is difficult due to the small scale length of these defects. In this work we study the feasibility of a new diagnostic based on x-ray phase-contrast imaging. This technique has been demonstrated to perform better than standard x-ray absorption techniques in critical situations like this. By using a synthetic diagnostic we show the capabilities of this new possible approach and the limits in relation to the parameters of currently available laser facilities.
Experimental progress of inertial confinement fusion based at the ShenGuang-III laser facility in China