Three-dimensional thickness reconstruction of ICF shells using X-ray tomography

A new technique is developed based on X-ray tomography for the 3D thickness characterization of ICF shell walls. The thickness uniformity of the shell wall contributes to the growth of Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the process of fusion. It is vital to characterize the 3D thickness distribution of the shell wall. The low efficiency of contact radiography (CR) limits its use in 2D problems. The application of micro-XCT is constrained in the problem of 3D thickness characterization considered here. Therefore, a new technique is proposed to obtain the 3D thickness of shells. The principle is based on shell reconstruction by filter back projection (FBP), spatial interpolation and edge recognition. Compared with CR and direct edge recognition by a series of projection images, higher frequency roughness is preserved by this technique, with an accuracy of 0.3 μm after phase contrast and distortion calibration.