Z pinches as intense x-ray sources for inertial confinement fusion applications
Conference
·
OSTI ID:474931
Fast z-pinch implosions can convert more than 10% of the stored electrical energy in a pulsed-power accelerator into x-rays. On the Saturn pulsed-power accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories, currents of 6 to 8 MA with a risetime of less than 50 ns have been used to drive cylindrically-symmetric arrays of wires, producing x-ray energies greater than 400 kJ with x-ray pulsewidths less than 5 ns and peak x-ray powers of 75 {+-} 10 TW. Using similar loads, PBFA Z has produced > 1.5 MJ and > 150 TW of x-rays in the first four months of operation in the z-pinch mode. These x-ray energies and powers are records for laboratory x-ray production. The x-ray output can be thermalized into a near-Planckian x-ray source by containing it within a cylindrical radiation case (a hohlraum). These energetic, intense, large volume, long-lived hohlraum x-ray sources have recently been used for ICF-relevant ablator physics experiments and offer the potential for performing many new basic physics and fusion-relevant experiments.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 474931
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--97-0973C; CONF-970341--2; ON: DE97005367
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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