Optimization of apertures and collimators for multi-channel plasma diagnostics

Aperture, pin-hole and collimator detection systems are often used in plasma diagnostics, for example, in soft x-ray detection and bolometer systems. In this article the simultaneous optimization of viewing-beam overlap and light yield is considered in multi-channel aperture and collimator systems for two-dimensional (2D) tomography. This article briefly highlights the relation between beamwidth overlap and spatial aliasing in tomography, and how aliasing can be avoided in theory and in practice. Three-dimensional (3D) single-channel aperture and collimator systems can be approximated by a combination of two planar systems if the aperture is rectangular. Three ways to optimize beamwidth overlap and light yield for planar aperture and collimator systems are considered in detail: overlap of the angular etendue at the full width at half maximum (FWHM), overlap of the geometric function at the FWHM a certain distance from the aperture, and arbitrary overlap for a given maximum beamwidth. The combination of 2D effects from all three optimization methods were used in the design of 3D apertures for a new multi-channel bolometer camera on the Joint European Torus tokamak. The resulting apertures are complex, but the new camera has several advantages over previous cameras. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.