M.R. Douglas

Tungsten wire-array Z-pinch experiments at 200 TW and 2 MJ

Here Z, a 60 TW/5 MJ electrical accelerator located at Sandia National Laboratories, has been used to implode tungsten wire-array Z pinches. These arrays consisted of large numbers of tungsten wires (120–300) with wire diameters of 7.5 to 15 μm placed in a symmetric cylindrical array. The experiments used array diameters ranging from 1.75 to 4 cm and lengths from 1 to 2 cm. A 2 cm long, 4 cm diam tungsten array consisting of 240, 7.5 μm diam wires (4.1 mg mass) achieved an x-ray power of ∼200 TW and an x-ray energy of nearly 2 MJ. Spectral data suggest an optically thick, Planckian-like radiator below 1000 eV. One surprising experimental result was the observation that the total radiated x-ray energies and x-ray powers were nearly independent of pinch length. These data are compared with two-dimensional radiation magnetohydrodynamic code calculations.

Insights and applications of two-dimensional simulations to Z-pinch experiments

A two-dimensional (2D) Eulerian radiation-magnetohydrodynamic code has been used to successfully simulate hollow metallic z-pinch experiments fielded on several facilities with a wide variety of drive conditions, time scales, and loads. The 2D simulations of these experiments reproduce important quantities of interest including the radiation pulse energy, power, and pulse width. This match is obtained through the use of an initial condition: the amplitude of a random density perturbation imposed on the initial plasma shell. The perturbations seed the development of magnetically driven Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities which greatly affect the dynamics of the implosion and the resulting production of radiation. Analysis of such simulations allows insights into the physical processes by which these calculations reproduce the experimental results. As examples, the insights gained from the simulations of Sandia “Z” accelerator [R. B. Spielman et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 2105 (1998)] experiments have allowed for the ...

Titanium K-shell x-ray production from high velocity wire array implosions on the 20-MA Z accelerator

The advent of the 20-MA Z accelerator [R.B. Spielman, C. Deeney, G.A. Chandler, et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 2105, (1997)] has enabled implosions of large diameter, high-wire-number arrays of titanium to begin testing Z-pinch K-shell scaling theories. The 2-cm long titanium arrays, which were mounted on a 40-mm diameter, produced between 75{+-}15 to 125{+-}20 kJ of K-shell x-rays. Mass scans indicate that, as predicted, higher velocity implosions in the series produced higher x-ray yields. Spectroscopic analyses indicate that these high velocity implosions achieved peak electron temperatures from 2.7{+-}0.1 to 3.2{+-}0.2 keV and obtained a K-shell emission mass participation of up to 12%.

Radiative Properties of High Wire Number Tungsten Arrays with Implosion Times up to 250 ns

High wire number, 25-mm-diameter tungsten wire arrays have been imploded on the 8-MA Saturn generator [R. B. Spielman et al., AIP Conference Proceeding 195, 3 (American Institute of Physics, Woodbury, NY 1989)], operating in a long-pulse mode. By varying the mass of the arrays from 710 to 6140 μg/cm, implosion times of 130–250 ns have been obtained with implosion velocities of 50–25 cm/μs, respectively. These Z-pinch implosions produced plasmas with millimeter diameters that radiated 600–800 kJ of x-rays, with powers of 20–49 TW; the corresponding pulsewidths were 19–7.5 ns, with risetimes ranging from 6.5 to 4.0 ns. These powers and pulsewidths are similar to those achieved with 50-ns implosion times on Saturn. Two-dimensional, radiation-magnetohydrodynamic calculations indicate that the imploding shells in these long implosion time experiments are comparable in width to those in the short-pulse cases. This can be due to lower initial perturbations. A heuristic wire array model suggests that the reduced perturbations, in the long-pulse cases, may be due to the individual wire merger occurring well before the acceleration of the shell. The experiments and modeling suggest that 150–200 ns implosion time Z-pinches could be employed for high-power, x-ray source applications.

Scaling and optimization of the radiation temperature in dynamic hohlraums

A quasianalytic model of the dynamic hohlraum is presented. Results of the model are compared to both experiments and full numerical simulations with good agreement. The computational simplicity of the model allows one to find the behavior of the hohlraum radiation temperature as a function of the various parameters of the system and thus find optimum parameters as a function of the driving current. The model is used to investigate the benefits of ablative standoff and quasispherical Z pinches.

Computational investigation of single mode vs multimode Rayleigh–Taylor seeding in Z-pinch implosions

A series of two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic calculations have been carried out to investigate single and multimode growth and mode coupling for magnetically-driven Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities in Z pinches. Wavelengths ranging from 5.0 mm down to 1.25 mm were considered. Such wavelengths are comparable to those observed at stagnation using a random density “seeding” method. The calculations show that wavelengths resolved by less than 10 cells exhibit an artificial decrease in initial Fourier spectrum amplitudes and a reduction in the corresponding amplitude growth. Single mode evolution exhibits linear exponential growth and the development of higher harmonics as the mode transitions into the nonlinear phase. The mode growth continues to exponentiate but at a slower rate than determined by linear hydrodynamic theory. In the two and three mode case, there is clear evidence of mode coupling and inverse cascade. In addition, distinct modal patterns are observed late in the implosion, resulting from fini...

The effect of load thickness on the performance of high velocity, annular Z-pinch implosions

Numerical calculations have been performed to investigate the role that load thickness may play in the performance of fast annular Z-pinch implosions. In particular, the effects of load thickness on the mitigation of the magnetically-driven Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability and energy coupling between the plasma load and generator are addressed. Using parameters representative of the Z accelerator [R. B. Spielman et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 2105 (1998)] at Sandia National Laboratories, two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations show that increased load thickness results in lower amplitude, slightly longer wavelength RT modes. In addition, there appears to be an optimum in implosion velocity which is directly associated with the thickness of the sheath and subsequent RT growth. Thin, annular loads, which should couple efficiently to the accelerator, show a large reduction in implosion velocity due to extreme RT development and increased load inductance. As a consequence, thicker loads on the order of 5 mm, couple almost as efficiently to the generator since the RT growth is reduced. This suggests that Z-pinch loads can be tailored for different applications, depending on the need for uniformity or high powers.

Hydromagnetic Rayleigh–Taylor instability in high-velocity gas-puff implosions

Experiments using the Saturn pulsed power generator have produced high-velocity z-pinch plasma implosions with velocities over 100 cm/μs using both annular and uniform-fill gas injection initial conditions. Both types of implosion show evidence of the hydromagnetic Rayleigh–Taylor instability with the uniform-fill plasmas producing a more spatially uniform pinch. Two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations including unsteady flow of gas from a nozzle into the diode region have been used to investigate these implosions. The instability develops from the nonuniform gas flow field that forms as the gas expands from the injection nozzle. Instability growth is limited to the narrow unstable region of the current sheath. For the annular puff the unstable region breaks through the inner edge of the annulus increasing nonlinear growth as mass ejected from the bubble regions is not replenished by accretion. This higher growth leads to bubble thinning and disruption producing greater nonuniformity at pinch for ...

Fast z-pinches as dense plasma, intense x-ray sources for plasma physics and fusion applications

As a result of advances in fast pulsed-power technology and cylindrical load fabrication, the Z pulsed-power accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories drives currents approaching 20 MA with a rise time of approximately 100 ns through cylindrically-symmetric loads (typically a cylindrical array consisting of a few hundred wires) to produce plasma densities in excess of , x-ray output energies approaching 2 MJ, radiation pulses as short as 4 ns and peak x-ray powers as high as . More than 15% of the stored electrical energy in the Z pulsed-power accelerator is converted into x-rays. The plasma pressures at peak compression are several TPa with electron temperatures that can exceed 3 keV at containment magnetic fields exceeding 1000 T. Depending on the atomic number and composition of the imploding plasma, these z-pinches can be tailored to produce intense sources of thermal x-rays, keV x-rays or neutrons. Although applications of these x-ray sources have included research in radiation material interaction, equations of state, opacity, astrophysics and x-ray lasers, the principal focus of the present research is to use them for indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF).

PBFA Z: A 60-TW/5-MJ Z-pinch driver

PBFA Z, a new 60-TW/5-MJ electrical accelerator located at Sandia National Laboratories, is now the world’s most powerful z-pinch driver. PBFA Z stores 11.4 MJ in its 36 Marx generators, couples 5 MJ into a 60-TW/105-ns FWHM pulse to the 120-mΩ water transmission lines, and delivers 3.0 MJ and 50 TW of electrical energy to the z-pinch load. Depending on load parameters, we attain peak load currents of 16–20 MA with a current rise time of ∼105 ns with wire-array z-pinch loads. We have extended the x-ray performance of tungsten wire-array z pinches from earlier Saturn experiments. Using a 2-cm-radius, 2-cm-long tungsten wire array with 240, 7.5-μm diameter wires (4.1-mg mass), we achieved an x-ray power of 210 TW and an x-ray energy of 1.9 MJ. Preliminary spectral measurements suggest a mostly optically-thick, Planckian-like radiator below 1000 eV. Data indicate ∼100 kJ of x rays radiated above 1000 eV. An intense z-pinch x-ray source with an overall coupling efficiency greater than 15% has been demonstrated.