We are currently designing a 10 ÎŒm resolution neutron penumbral-aperture microscope to diagnose high-convergence targets at the Nova laser facility. To achieve such high resolution, the new microscope will require developments in three areas. First, we have designed thick penumbral apertures with extremely sharp cutoffs over a useful (â100 ÎŒm) field of view; fabrication of such apertures appears feasible using gold electroplating techniques. Second, the limited field of view and required close proximity of the aperture to the target (2 cm) necessitates a durable mounting and alignment system with ±25 ÎŒm accuracy. Finally, a neutron detector containing 160 000 scintillator elements is required. We plan to utilize clad-scintillator elements in this array, bonded together with a high-Z paint to eliminate recoil-proton crosstalk. Two schemes are under consideration for readout of this large array.