Wire array z-pinch insights for high X-ray power generation
- and others
The discovery that the use of very large numbers of wires enables high x-ray power to be generated from wire-array z-pinches represents a breakthrough in load design for large pulsed power generators, and has permitted high temperatures to be generated in radiation cavities on Saturn and Z. In this paper, changes in x-ray emission characteristics as a function of wire number, array mass, and load radius, for 20-mm-long aluminum arrays on Saturn that led to these breakthrough hohlraum results, are discussed and compared with a few related emission characteristics of high-wire-number aluminum and tungsten arrays on Z. X-ray measurement comparisons with analytic models and 2-D radiation-magnetohydrodynamic (RMHC) code simulations in the x-y and r-z planes provide confidence in the ability of the models and codes to predict future x-ray performance with very-large-number wire arrays.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36; AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 307954
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR--98-2710; CONF-980603--; ON: DE99001666
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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