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Measurements of magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth during the implosion of initially solid metal liners

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3560911· OSTI ID:21537886

A recent publication [D. B. Sinars et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 185001 (2010)] describes the first controlled experiments measuring the growth of the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability in fast ({approx}100 ns) Z-pinch plasmas formed from initially solid aluminum tubes (liners). Sinusoidal perturbations on the surface of these liners with wavelengths of 25-400 {mu}m were used to seed single-mode instabilities. The evolution of the outer liner surface was captured using multiframe 6.151 keV radiography. The initial paper shows that there is good agreement between the data and 2-D radiation magneto-hydrodynamic simulations down to 50 {mu}m wavelengths. This paper extends the previous one by providing more detailed radiography images, detailed target characterization data, a more accurate comparison to analytic models for the amplitude growth, the first data from a beryllium liner, and comparisons between the data and 3D simulations.

OSTI ID:
21537886
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 18; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English