skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: PBFA Z: A 20-MA z-pinch driver for plasma radiation sources

Conference ·
OSTI ID:251439

Sandia National Laboratories is completing a major modification to the PBFA-II facility. PBFA Z will be a z-pinch driver capable of delivering up to 20 MA to a z-pinch load. It optimizes the electrical coupling to the implosion energy of z pinches at implosion velocities of {approximately} 40 cm/{mu}s. Design constraints resulted in an accelerator with a 0.12-{Omega} impedance, a 10.25-nH inductance, and a 120-ns pulse width. The design required new water transmission lines, insulator stack, and vacuum power feeds. Current is delivered to the z-pinch load through four, self-magnetically-insulated vacuum transmission lines and a double post-hole convolute. A variety of design codes are used to model the power flow. These predict a peak current of 20 MA to a z-pinch load having a 2-cm length, a 2-cm radius, and a 15--mg mass, coupling 1.5 MJ into kinetic energy. We present 2-D Rad-Hydro calculations showing MJ x-ray outputs from tungsten wire-array z pinches.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
251439
Report Number(s):
SAND-96-0306C; CONF-960610-7; ON: DE96011723; TRN: 96:016071
Resource Relation:
Conference: BEAMS `96: 11. international conference on high-power particle beams, Prague (Czech Republic), 10-14 Jun 1996; Other Information: PBD: [1996]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English