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Title: Formation of Imploding Plasma Liners for HEDP and MIF Applications - Diagnostics

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1239660· OSTI ID:1239660
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  3. HyperV Technologies Corp., Chantilly, VA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL (United States)
  5. Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States)

The goal of the plasma liner experiment (PLX) was to explore and demonstrate the feasibility of forming imploding spherical plasma liners that can reach High Energy Density (HED)-relevant (~ 0.1 Mbar) pressures upon stagnation. The plasma liners were to be formed by a spherical array of 30 – 36 railgun-driven hypervelocity plasma jets (Mach 10 – 50). Due to funding and project scope reductions in year two of the project, this initial goal was revised to focus on studies of individual jet propagation, and on two jet merging physics. PLX was a collaboration between a number of partners including Los Alamos National Laboratory, HyperV Technologies, University of New Mexico (UNM), University of Alabama, Huntsville, and University of Nevada, Reno. UNM’s part in the collaboration was primary responsibility for plasma diagnostics. Though full plasma liner experiments could not be performed, the results of single and two jet experiments nevertheless laid important groundwork for future plasma liner investigations. Though challenges were encountered, the results obtained with one and two jets were overwhelmingly positive from a liner formation point of view, and were largely in agreement with predictions of hydrodynamic models.

Research Organization:
Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
Contributing Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); HyperV Technologies Corp., Chantilly, VA (United States); Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL (United States); Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
SC0003585
OSTI ID:
1239660
Report Number(s):
DOE-UNM-03585-2
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English