Rongkun Xu

realization of quasi-spherical implosion using pre-shaped prolate wire arrays with a compression foam target inside

Quasi-spherical (QS) implosion of wire arrays and its impact on the foam target have been studied on the 100 ns 1.5 MA Qiangguang-I facility, which suggests that a high quality impact between the QS implosion and foam target can be achieved by adjusting loads initial shape carefully to match the external magnetic pressure. Implosions of loads with H/d ∼ 1.2 were studied with a self-emission x-ray pinhole image system and a dark field schlieren system. The radially developed spike-like instabilities indicate the spherical convergence of plasma. The observed radiation on the foam target surface suggests satisfying implosion symmetry and wire-foam impact simultaneity. An average implosion speed of 10.5 × 106 cm/s was obtained with an optical streak image system. The derived peak kinetic energy density ∼2.1 kJ/cm is remarkably higher than cylindrical cases, which agree with the expectations.

Parallel vacuum arc discharge with microhollow array dielectric and anode

An electrode configuration with microhollow array dielectric and anode was developed to obtain parallel vacuum arc discharge. Compared with the conventional electrodes, more than 10 parallel microhollow discharges were ignited for the new configuration, which increased the discharge area significantly and made the cathode eroded more uniformly. The vacuum discharge channel number could be increased effectively by decreasing the distances between holes or increasing the arc current. Experimental results revealed that plasmas ejected from the adjacent hollow and the relatively high arc voltage were two key factors leading to the parallel discharge. The characteristics of plasmas in the microhollow were investigated as well. The spectral line intensity and electron density of plasmas in microhollow increased obviously with the decease of the microhollow diameter.

Numerical and experimental investigations on the interaction of light wire-array Z-pinches with embedded heavy foam converters

The interaction of a light tungsten wire-array Z-pinch with an embedded heavy foam converter, whose mass ratio is typically less than 0.16, is numerically analyzed and experimentally investigated on the 1.3 MA “QiangGuang I” facility. Computational results show that this implosion process can be divided into three stages: acceleration of the tungsten wire-array plasma, collision, and stagnation. The tungsten plasma is accelerated to a high speed by the J × B force and interacts weakly with the foam plasma in the first stage. Strong energy conversions take place in the second collision stage. When the high speed tungsten plasma impacts on the foam converter, the plasma is thermalized and a radial radiation peak is produced. Meanwhile, a shock wave is generated due to the collision. After the shock rebounds from the axis and meets the W/Foam boundary, the plasma stagnates and the second radial radiation peak appears. The collision and stagnation processes were observed and the two-peak radial radiation puls...

Simulation of the quasi-spherical wire-array implosion dynamics based on a multi-element model

The implosion dynamics of quasi-spherical wire arrays with different initial aspect ratios are investigated with a multi-element model, and the simulated results are compared with experimental results in the Qiangguang-1 Facility in 2011. According to the simulation, the pinch plasmas implode in different modes when the aspect ratios of the initial wire arrays are different. The aspect ratio of the wire array in shot 11259 is 0.76, and the simulated pinch plasma implodes onto the equatorial surface. In shot 11268, the aspect ratio is 1.33 and the plasma implodes onto the central axis. In shot 11270, the aspect ratio is 1.05 and the plasma implodes toward the central point of the load. The simulated shapes of the plasma shells are in good accordance with the experimental time-resolved x-ray framing images. The simulated imploding times are consistent with the experimental x-ray peak times. The quasi-spherical implosion is more effective in driving inertial controlled fusion.

Experimental investigation of the ribbon-array ablation process

Ablation processes of ribbon-array loads, as well as wire-array loads for comparison, were investigated on Qiangguang-1 accelerator. The ultraviolet framing images indicate that the ribbon-array loads have stable passages of currents, which produce axially uniform ablated plasma. The end-on x-ray framing camera observed the azimuthally modulated distribution of the early ablated ribbon-array plasma and the shrink process of the x-ray radiation region. Magnetic probes measured the total and precursor currents of ribbon-array and wire-array loads, and there exists no evident difference between the precursor currents of the two types of loads. The proportion of the precursor current to the total current is 15% to 20%, and the start time of the precursor current is about 25 ns later than that of the total current. The melting time of the load material is about 16 ns, when the inward drift velocity of the ablated plasma is taken to be 1.5 × 107 cm/s.

Measurement of axial radiation properties in Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum at Julong-1

Axial radiation properties in Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum is investigated experimentally for the first time at Julong-1 facility in China, employing a load that contains a cylindrical CHO foam placed at the central axis position of the nested tungsten wire array. Time-resolved axially radiating images indicate that the velocity of the radiating shock is 31.9 ± 5.6 cm/μs in shot 0181. At t = −6.5 ns with respect to the peak of radially radiated power at stagnation, the annular width is estimated to be ∼1 mm and the intensities distribution in the shock implies a good azimuthal symmetry of radiation pressure. Axial power is found to peak prior to the arrival of the shock to the axis, which is explained by the balance between shock heating and radiating cooling. Utilizing the end-on radiation images and axial power, the peak radiation temperature in dynamic hohlraum is obtained to be ∼65 eV.

Preliminary investigation on the radiation transfer in dynamic hohlraums on the PTS facility

The radiation transfer in dynamic hohlraums on the PTS facility is preliminarily investigated in this paper. Simulation results show that as the accelerated wire-array plasma impacts onto the foam converter, energy thermalization takes place in a local interaction region near the boundary of the wire-array plasma and the foam converter, and then, high temperature radiation is gradually generated. Its transfer process largely depends on the radiation temperature and the mass density of the converter. When the mass ratio of the wire-array to the converter is near 1.0, the radiation temperature can be increased to about 120 eV with the PTS drive current. In this case, the radiation generated from the interaction region will quickly transfer to the center of the converter. The experimental end-on x-ray images present the overall process of radiation production and transfer of this kind of dynamic hohlraum. As the mass ratio is decreased, the radiation temperature will also be deceased, and the converter will ...

A free-standing thin foil bolometer for measuring soft x-ray fluence

A free-standing thin foil bolometer for measuring soft x-ray fluence in z-pinch experiments is developed. For the first time, we present the determination of its sensitivity by different methods. The results showed great consistency for the different methods, which confirms the validity of the sensitivity and provides confidence for its application in z-pinch experiments. It should be highlighted that the sensitivity of a free-standing foil bolometer could be calibrated directly using Joule heating without any corrections that will be necessary for a foil bolometer with substrate because of heat loss. The difference of the waveforms between the free-standing foil bolometer and that with substrate is obvious. It reveals that the heat loss to the substrate should be considered for the latter in despite of the short x-ray pulse when the peak value is used to deduce the total deposited energy. The quantitative influence is analyzed through a detailed simulation.

Measurements of high energy photons in Z-pinch experiments on primary test stand

High energy photons are measured for the first time in wire-array Z-pinch experiments on the Primary Test Stand (PTS) which delivers a current up to 8 MA with a rise time of 70 ns. A special designed detecting system composed of three types of detectors is used to measure the average energy, intensity, and pulse waveform of high energy photons. Results from Pb-TLD (thermoluminescence dosimeter) detector indicate that the average energy is 480 keV (±15%). Pulse shape of high energy photons is measured by the photodiode detector consisted of scintillator coupled with a photodiode, and it is correlated with soft x-ray power by the same timing signal. Intensity is measured by both TLD and the photodiode detector, showing good accordance with each other, and it is 10(10) cm(-2) (±20%) at 2 m in the horizontal direction. Measurement results show that high energy photons are mainly produced in pinch regions due to accelerated electrons. PTS itself also produces high energy photons due to power flow electrons, which is one order smaller in amplitude than those from pinch region.

A novel extreme ultraviolet four channels normal incidence imaging system for plasma diagnostics of Z-pinch facility

A novel EUV four channels normal incidence imaging system for plasma diagnostics of Z-pinch facility was presented in this paper, which consists of four concave mirrors and one convex mirror used for focusing an object onto four different positions with about 30 μm resolution on the same image plane. In addition, this imaging system can work at the energies of 50 eV, 95 eV, 150 eV, and broadband of 50-100 eV by using different multilayer films deposited on the concave and convex mirrors. This instrument, combined with framing camera, can achieve the power of two-dimensional spatial and temporal resolution, as well as the ability to imaging the plasma at the specific temperature. In the paper, the four channels microscope centering at multi-energies was developed.