Preparation of Cu-Doped Glow Discharge Polymer Coatings for ICF Applications

Copper doped polymer shells can provide a very useful diagnostic for fast ignition experiments currently being performed at various laboratories around the world. The low concentration copper dopant acts as an efficient x-ray source providing information on the physics of fast ignition. We have developed copper doped glow discharge (GDP) coatings suitable for such purposes. Copper acetylacetonate (CuAcAC), a solid at room temperature, was used in a heated jacket as the dopant source. We used this technique to fabricate thin (~5-7 (mu)m) GDP shells doped with ~1 at % copper through the depolymerizable mandrel process for fast ignition experiments. The details of the experimental set up and the range and limitations of the technique are discussed.