Effect of Current Rise-time on the Formation of Precursor Structures and Mass Ablation Rate in Cylindrical Wire Array Z-Pinches

Journal Article · Wed Jan 21 04:00:00 EST 2009 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3079743· OSTI ID:21255353

Bott, S C; Eshaq, Y; Ueda, U ^[1]; Haas, D M; Beg, F N ^[2]; Hammer, D A; Kusse, B; Greenly, J; Shelkovenko, T A; Pikuz, S A; Blesener, I C; McBride, R D; Douglass, J D; Bell, K; Knapp, P ^[3]; Chittenden, J P; Lebedev, S V; Bland, S N; Hall, G N; Suzuki, F A ^[4]

---

1. Center for Energy Research, University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093 (United States)
2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093 (United States)
3. Laboratory of Plasma Studies, Cornell University, NY 14853 (United States)
4. Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, SW7 2BW (United Kingdom)

We present the first study to directly compare the mass ablation rates of cylindrical wire arrays as a function of the current rise-rate. Formation of the precursor column is investigated on both the MAPGIE (1 MA, 250 ns) and COBRA (1 MA, 100 ns) generators, and results are used to infer the change in the mass ablation rate induced by the rise-rate of the drive current. Laser shadowography, gated XUV imaging and x-ray diodes are used to compare the dynamical behavior both generators, and x-pinch radiography and XUV spectroscopy and provide density evolution and temperature measurements respectively. Results are compared to predictions from an analytical scaling model based on a fixed ablation rate, and the close correlation achieved suggests that the effective ablation velocity is not a strong function of the current rise rate.

• OSTI ID: 21255353
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 1088; ISSN 0094-243X; ISSN APCPCS
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ABLATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CORRELATIONS
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
EVOLUTION
EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
FORECASTING
LASERS
LINEAR Z PINCH DEVICES
MASS
PLASMA HEATING
PULSE RISE TIME
SPECTROSCOPY
TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT
WIRES