Study of the precursor and non-precursor implosion regimes in wire array Z-pinches

Journal Article · Sat Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4754006· OSTI ID:22086148

Papp, D; Ivanov, V V; Anderson, A A; Altemara, S D; Talbot, B R ^[1]; Jones, B ^[2]; Haboub, A ^[3]

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1. University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada 89507 (United States)
2. Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 (United States)
3. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

Star-like and closely spaced nested wire array configurations were investigated in precursor and non-precursor implosions. Closely spaced nested cylindrical arrays have inner and outer arrays with equal wire numbers, and inner and outer wires aligned to each other. The gap between the outer and inner wires is not more than 1 mm. Calculation of magnetic fields shows that the small gap results in a reversed, outward j Multiplication-Sign B force on the inner wires. Closely spaced arrays of 6-16 wires with outer diameter of 16 mm and with gaps of {Delta}R = 0.25-1 mm were tested. 6-8-wire arrays with a gap of {Delta}R = 0.4-1 mm imploded without precursor, but precursor was present in loads with 12-16 wires and {Delta}R = 0.25-1 mm. Implosion dynamics of closely spaced arrays was similar to that of star-like arrays. Implosion time was found to decrease with decreased wire numbers. Star array configurations were designed with a numerical scheme to implode with or without precursor. The lack of precursor resulted in a marginal improvement in total x-ray yield and power, and up to 20% increase in Al K-shell yield. The Al K-shell radiated energy was found to increase with decreasing the number of arrays in closely spaced and star-like wire arrays.

• OSTI ID: 22086148
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 19; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
EXPLODING WIRES
IMPLOSIONS
K SHELL
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PINCH DEVICES
PRECURSOR