Direct Experimental Evidence for Current-Transfer Mode Operation of Nested Tungsten Wire Arrays at 16-19 MA

Journal Article · Fri Jun 10 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.225003· OSTI ID:20696360

Cuneo, M E; Sinars, D B; Bliss, D E; Waisman, E M; Porter, J L; Stygar, W A ^[1]; Lebedev, S V; Chittenden, J P ^[2]; Sarkisov, G S ^[3]; Afeyan, B B ^[4]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87185-1193 (United States)
2. Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London (United Kingdom)
3. Ktech Corporation, Albuquerque, New Mexico (United States)
4. Polymath Research, Inc., Pleasanton, California (United States)

Nested tungsten wire arrays (20-mm on 12-mm diam.) are shown for the first time to operate in a current-transfer mode at 16-19 MA, even for azimuthal interwire gaps of 0.2 mm that are the smallest typically used for any array experiment. After current transfer, the inner wire array shows discrete wire ablation and implosion characteristics identical to that of a single array, such as axially nonuniform ablation, delayed acceleration, and trailing mass and current. The presence of trailing mass from the outer and the inner arrays may play a role in determining nested array performance.

• OSTI ID: 20696360
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 94; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ABLATION
CHARGED-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
CURRENTS
IMPLOSIONS
MASS
OPERATION
PERFORMANCE
PLASMA
TUNGSTEN
WIRES
X-RAY SOURCES