W. Matuska

High Temperature Dynamic Hohlraums on the Pulsed Power Driver Z

In the concept of the dynamic hohlraum an imploding Z pinch is optically thick to its own radiation. Radiation may be trapped inside the pinch to give a radiation temperature inside the pinch greater than that outside the pinch. The radiation is typically produced by colliding an outer Z-pinch liner onto an inner liner. The collision generates a strongly radiating shock, and the radiation is trapped by the outer liner. As the implosion continues after the collision, the radiation temperature may continue to increase due to ongoing PdV (pressure times change in volume) work done by the implosion. In principal, the radiation temperature may increase to the point at which the outer liner burns through, becomes optically thin, and no longer traps the radiation. One application of the dynamic hohlraum is to drive an ICF (inertial confinement fusion) pellet with the trapped radiation field. Members of the dynamic hohlraum team at Sandia National Labs have used the pulsed power driver Z (20 MA, 100 ns) to create...

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 ...

Dynamics of a Z-pinch x-ray source for heating inertial-confinement-fusion relevant hohlraums to 120–160 eV

A z-pinch radiation source has been developed that generates 60 {+-} 20 KJ of x-rays with a peak power of 13 {+-} 4 TW through a 4-mm diameter axial aperture on the Z facility. The source has heated NIF (National Ignition Facility)-scale (6-mm diameter by 7-mm high) hohlraums to 122 {+-} 6 eV and reduced-scale (4-mm diameter by 4-mm high) hohlraums to 155 {+-} 8 eV -- providing environments suitable for indirect-drive ICF (Inertial Confinement Fusion) studies. Eulerian-RMHC (radiation-hydrodynamics code) simulations that take into account the development of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the r-z plane provide integrated calculations of the implosion, x-ray generation, and hohlraum heating, as well as estimates of wall motion and plasma fill within the hohlraums. Lagrangian-RMHC simulations suggest that the addition of a 6 mg/cm{sup 3} CH{sub 2} fill in the reduced-scale hohlraum decreases hohlraum inner-wall velocity by {approximately}40% with only a 3--5% decrease in peak temperature, in agreement with measurements.

Two‐dimensional modeling of the x‐radiation output from perturbed Z pinches

Two‐dimensional radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations are presented that demonstrate the effects of magnetically driven Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities on the soft x‐ray output from Z pinches. Instability models, which reproduce the current drive wave form and match visible framing camera data for instability wavelength and amplitude for implosions on capacitively driven inductive store systems, are used to study the structure of the x‐ray output and the spectrum of radiation emitted from the pinch. The results indicate that standard magnetohydrodynamics is capable of reproducing much of the observed data when two‐dimensional effects associated with Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities are included.

Soft x-ray measurements of z-pinch-driven vacuum hohlraums

This article reports the experimental characterization of a z-pinch driven-vacuum hohlraum. The authors have measured soft x-ray fluxes of 5 x 10{sup 12} W/cm{sup 2} radiating from the walls of hohlraums which are 2.4--2.5 cm in diameter by 1 cm tall. The x-ray source used to drive these hohlraums was a z-pinch consisting of a 300 wire tungsten array driven by a 2 MA, 100 ns current pulse. In this hohlraum geometry, the z-pinch x-ray source can produce energies in excess of 800 kJ and powers in excess of 100 TW to drive these hohlraums. The x-rays released in these hohlraums represent greater than a factor of 25 in energy and more than a factor of three in x-ray power over previous laboratory-driven hohlraums.

Measurement and simulation of apertures on Z hohlraums

We have performed aperture measurements and simulations for vacuum hohlraums heated by wire array implosions. A low-Z plastic coating is often applied to the aperture to create a high ablation pressure which retards the expansion of the gold hohlraum wall. However this interface is unstable and may be subject to the development of highly nonlinear perturbations (“jets”) as a result of shocks converging near the edge of the aperture. These experiments have been simulated using Lagrangian and Eulerian radiation hydrodynamics codes.

Application of 2-D simulations to hollow Z-pinch implosions

The application of simulations of z-pinch implosions should have at least two goals: first, to properly model the most important physical processes occurring in the pinch allowing for a better understanding of the experiments and second, provide a design capability for future experiments. Beginning with experiments fielded at Los Alamos on the Pegasus I and Pegasus II capacitor banks, we have developed a methodology for simulating hollow z-pinches in two dimensions which has reproduced important features of the measured experimental current drive, spectrum, radiation pulse shape, peak power and total radiated energy (1,2,3). This methodology employs essentially one free parameter, the initial level of the random density perturbations imposed at the beginning of the 2-D simulation, but in general no adjustments to other parameters (such as the resistivity) are required (1). Limitations in the use of this approach include the use of the 3-T, gray diffusion treatment of radiation and the fact that the initia...

Enhancement of solar corona and comet details

Finely detailed striae in astronomical images can be important in formulation of theory. Examples are studies of streamers in the solar corona and of dust tails in comets. In both instances, conventional observations fail to reveal much of the structural detail. Digital image processing has been used at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) for enhancing these images. The corona images have tremendous variations in film density which must be eliminated before fine striae can be seen. These variations can be removed by means of numerical modeling of their spatial relation to the sun. This model can be thought of as a surface of background film density. In the comet images the overall variation is less severe. Further, the large number of comet images makes it infeasible to model them individually. Hence, an extreme low-pass filter was used to create an image which can be used as the background surface. In both cases, the background surface is divided into the original image pixel by pixel. This quotient image is then frequency-filtered for edge enhancement or noise control. Nonlinear density transformations are then used to enhance contrast. For both types of images, heretofore unmeasurable details become readily visible for analysis.

Comparison and analysis of 2-D simulation results with two implosion radiation experiments on the Los Alamos Pegasus I and Pegasus II capacitor banks

Two experiments, PegI-41, conducted on the Los Alamos Pegasus I capacitor bank, and PegII-25, on the Pegasus II bank, consisted of the implosions of 13 mg (nominal), 5 cm radius, 2 cm high thin cylindrical aluminum foils resulting in soft X-ray radiation pulses from the plasma thermalizion on axis. The implosions were conducted in direct-drive (no intermediate switching) mode with peak currents of about 4 MA and 5 MA respectively, and implosion times of about 2.5 /spl mu/s and 2.0 /spl mu/s. A radiation yield of about 250 kJ was measured for PegII-25. The purpose of these experiments was to examine the physics of the implosion and relate this physics to the production of the radiation pulse and to provide detailed experimental data which could be compared with 2-D radiation-magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) simulations. Included in the experimental diagnostic suites were Faraday rotation and dB/dt current measurements, a visible framing camera, an X-ray stripline camera, time-dependent spectroscopy, bolometers and XRDs. A comparison of the results from these experiments shows agreement with 2-D simulation results in the instability development, current, and radiation pulse data, including the pulsewidth, shape, peak power and total radiation yield as measured by bolometry. Instabilities dominate the behavior of the implosion and largely determine the properties of the resulting radiation pulse. The 2-D simulations can be seen to be an important tool in understanding the implosion physics.

Characterization of diagnostic hole-closure in Z-pinch driven hohlraums

In this article we investigate the partial closure of diagnostic holes in Z-pinch driven hohlraums. These hohlraums differ from current laser-driven hohlraums in a number of ways such as their larger size, greater x-ray drive energy, and lower temperature. Although the diameter of the diagnostic holes on these Z-pinch driven hohlraums can be much greater than their laser-driven counterparts, 4 mm in diameter or larger, radiation impinges on the wall material surrounding the hole for the duration of the Z pinch, nearly 100 ns. This incident radiation causes plasma to ablate from the hohlraum walls surrounding the diagnostic hole and partially obscure this diagnostic hole. This partial obscuration reduces the effective area over which diagnostics view the hohlraum’s radiation. This reduction in area can lead to an underestimation of the wall temperature when nonimaging diagnostics such as x-ray diodes and bolometers are used to determine power and later to infer a wall temperature. In this article we descri...