As requirements for surface slope error quality of grazing incidence optics approach the 100 nanoradian level, it is necessary to improve the performance of the measuring instruments to achieve accurate and repeatable results at this level. We have identified a number of internal error sources in the Long Trace Profiler (LTP) that affect measurement quality at this level. The LTP is sensitive to phase shifts produced within the millimeter diameter of the pencil beam probe by optical path irregularities with scale lengths of a fraction of a millimeter. We examine the effects of mirror surface ''macroroughness'' and internal glass homogeneity on the accuracy of the LTP through experiment and theoretical modeling. We will place limits on the allowable surface ''macroroughness'' and glass homogeneity required to achieve accurate measurements in the nanoradian range.

We present a computational study of the formation of jets at strongly driven hydrodynamically unstable interfaces, and the interaction of these jets with one another and with developing spikes and bubbles. This provides a nonlinear spike-spike and spike-bubble interaction mechanism that can have a significant impact on the large-scale characteristics of the mixing layer. These interactions result in sensitivity to the initial perturbation spectrum, including the relative phases of the various modes, that persists long into the nonlinear phase of instability evolution.

Monochromator is a very important and precise instrument used in beam lines at synchrotron radiation facilities. We need to know if there is actual thermal distortion on gratings resulting in the degradation of the monochromator resolution. We need to know the characteristics of the grating rotation. It is possible to make a simple but precise in-situ distortion monitoring and rotation angle test of the grating by use of a precise pencil beam angle monitor. We have made preliminary measurements on a monochrometer grating of an undulator beam line X1B at Brookhaven National Laboratory. We monitored a small amount of angle variation on the grating. We detected 1.7 {micro}rad backlash (P-V) of the grating controlling system.

Al-polarity inversion domains formed during AlN layer growth on (0001) sapphire were identified using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). They resemble columnar inversion domains reported for GaN films grown on (0001) sapphire. However, for AlN, these columns have a V-like shape with boundaries that deviate by 2 {+-} 0.5{sup o} from the c-axis. TEM identification of these defects agrees with the post-growth surface morphology as well as with the microstructure revealed by etching in hot aqueous KOH.

There is a great deal of interest in studying the evolution of hydrodynamic phenomena in high energy density plasmas that have transitioned beyond the initial phases of instability into a fully developed turbulent state. Motivation for this study arises both in fusion plasmas as well as in numerous astrophysical applications where the understanding of turbulent mixing is essential. Double-shell ignition targets, for example, are subject to large growth of short wavelength perturbations on both surfaces of the high-Z inner shell. These perturbations, initiated by Richtmyer-Meshkov and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, can transition to a turbulent state and will lead to deleterious mixing of the cooler shell material with the hot burning fuel. In astrophysical plasmas, due to the extremely large scale, turbulent hydrodynamic mixing is also of widespread interest. The radial mixing that occurs in the explosion phase of core-collapse supernovae is an example that has received much attention in recent years and yet remains only poorly understood. In all of these cases, numerical simulation of the flow field is very difficult due to the large Reynolds number and corresponding wide range of spatial scales characterizing the plasma. Laboratory experiments on high energy density facilities that can access this regime are therefore …

Images of neutron emission from Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) (D,T) targets reveal the internal structure of the target during the fusion burn. 14-MeV neutrons provide images which show the size and shape of the region where (D,T) fusion is most intense. Images based on ''downscattered'' neutrons with energies from 5 to 10 MeV emphasize the distribution of deuterium and tritium fuel within the compressed target. The downscattered images are difficult to record because the lower energy neutrons are detected with less efficiency than the much more intense pulse of 14-MeV neutrons which precedes them at the detector. The success of downscattered neutron imaging will depend on the scintillation decay times and the sensitivities to lower-energy neutrons of the scintillator materials that are used in the detectors. A time-correlated photon counting system measured the decay of neutron-induced scintillation for times as long as several hundred ns. Accelerators at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory provided stable 14-MeV neutron sources for the measurements. Measurements of scintillator decay characteristics indicate that some commercially available scintillators should be suitable for recording both 14-MeV and downscattered neutron images of compressed ICF targets.