Study of Plasma Flow Modes in Imploding Nested Arrays

Journal Article · Thu Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Plasma Physics Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063780X18020101· OSTI ID:22763299

Aleksandrov, V. V.; Gritsuk, A. N.; Branitsky, A. V.; Frolov, I. N.; Grabovski, E. V.; Sasorov, P. V. ^[1]; Ol’khovskaya, O. G. ^[2]; Zaitsev, V. I. ^[1]

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1. Troitsk Institute for Innovation and Fusion Research (Russian Federation)
2. Russian Academy of Sciences, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics (Russian Federation)

Results from experimental studies of implosion of nested wire and fiber arrays at currents of up to 4 МА at the Angara-5-1 facility are presented. Depending on the ratio between the radii of the inner and outer arrays, different modes of the plasma flow in the space between the inner and outer arrays were implemented: the sub-Alfvénic (V{sub r} < V{sub А}) and super-Alfvénic (V{sub r} > V{sub А}) modes and a mode with the formation of the transition shock wave (SW) region between the cascades. By varying the material of the outer array (tungsten wires or kapron fibers), it is shown that the plasma flow mode between the inner and outer arrays depends on the ratio between the plasma production rates ṁ{sub in} /ṁ{sub out} in the inner and outer arrays. The obtained experimental results are compared with the results of one-dimensional MHD simulation of the plasma flow between the arrays. Stable implosion of the inner array plasma was observed in experiments with combined nested arrays consisting of a fiber outer array and a tungsten inner array. The growth rates of magnetic Rayleigh−Taylor (MRT) instability in the inner array plasma at different numbers of fibers in the outer array and different ratios between the radii of the inner and outer arrays are compared. Suppression of MRT instability during the implosion of the inner array plasma results in the formation of a stable compact Z-pinch and generation of a soft X-ray pulse. A possible scenario of interaction between the plasmas of the inner and outer arrays is offered. The stability of the inner array plasma in the stage of final compression depends on the character of interaction of plasma jets from the outer array with the magnetic field of the inner array.

• OSTI ID: 22763299
• Journal Information: Plasma Physics Reports, Vol. 44, Issue 2; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2018 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1063-780X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PLASMA JETS
PLASMA PRODUCTION
SOFT X RADIATION
TUNGSTEN