Fabrication and Attachment of Polyimide Fill Tubes to Plastic NIF Capsules

We have developed a technique for drawing commercially available polyimide tubing to the required fill tube dimensions. The tubes are then precisely cut with an Excimer laser to produce a clean, flat tip. We have also demonstrated that one can use the Excimer laser to drill less than a 5 m diameter through hole in the ~150 wall of a NIF dimension GDP shell, and can then create a 10-15 m diameter, 20-40 m deep counterbore centered on the through hole with the same laser. Using a home built assembly station the tube is carefully inserted into the counterbore and glued in place with UV-cure epoxy, using a LED UV source to avoid heating the joint. We expect that the same joining technique can be used for Be shells.