Details about the cylindrical implosions using direct-drive irradiation on
the OMEGA Laser facility are provided. The experimental configuration, incl
uding orientation, construction, and mounting of the targets is described.
An attempt to characterize the modulation transfer function of the primary
x-ray framing camera diagnostic results in insufficient exposure contrast b
ut relative agreement with other determinations. The x-ray intensity of the
titanium backlighter driven by the 2.5-ns-linear ramp of the laser beams i
s described, and the relative intensity on film is compared to similar Nova
experiments. The parallax effects of different length marker layers of hig
h-opacity dichloropolystyrene are measured, resulting in the conclusion tha
t the marker layer length should be matched to the laser drive illumination
profile. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)73501-X].