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Title: Argon gas-puff radius optimiaztion for Saturn operating in the long-pulse mode.

Conference ·
OSTI ID:1020414
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3]
  1. Naval Research Laboratory Washington, DC
  2. Naval Research Laboratory Washington, D
  3. L-3 Communications, Reston, VA

Argon gas puff experiments using the long pulse mode of Saturn (230-ns rise time) have promise to increase the coupled energy and simplify operations because the voltage is reduced in vacuum and the forward-going energy is higher for the same Marx charge. The issue addressed in this work is to determine if the 12-cm-diameter triple nozzle used in Saturn long-pulse-mode experiments to date provides maximum K-shell yield, or if a different-radius nozzle provides additional radiation. Long-pulse implosions are modeled by starting with measured density distributions from the existing 12-cm-diameter nozzle, and then varying the outer radius in an implosion-energy-conserving self-similar manner to predict the gas-puff diameter that results in the maximum K-shell yield. The snowplow-implosions and multi-zone radiation transport models used in the analysis are benchmarked against detailed measurements from the 12-cm-diameter experiments. These calculations indicate that the maximum K-shell emission is produced with very nearly the existing nozzle radius.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1020414
Report Number(s):
SAND2010-4095C; TRN: US201116%%319
Resource Relation:
Conference: Proposed for presentation at the 37th IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) held June 20-24, 2010 in Norfolk, VA.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English