Experimental demonstration of compact torus compression and acceleration

Journal Article · Thu Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Physics of Fluids B; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.859641· OSTI ID:5617578

Hammer, J H; Eddleman, J L; Hartman, C W; McLean, H S; Molvik, A W ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94526 (US)

Tests of compact torus (CT) compression on the RACE device (Phys. Rev. Lett. {bold 61}, 2843 (1988)) have successfully demonstrated stable compression by a factor of 2 in radius, field amplification by factors of 2--3 to 20 kG, and compressed densities exceeding 10{sup 16} cm{sup {minus}3}. The results are in good agreement with two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the CT dynamics. The CT is formed between a pair of coaxial conical conductors that serve as both a flux conserver for stable, symmetric formation and as electrodes for the compression and acceleration phases. The CT is compressed by {ital J}{times}{ital B} forces (poloidal current, toroidal field) when a 120 kV, 260 kJ capacitor bank is discharged across the electrodes. The CT reaches two-fold compression to a radius of 8 cm and a length of 20--30 cm near the time of peak current, 10 {mu}sec (many Alfven times) after the accelerator fire time, and is subsequently accelerated in a 150 cm straight coaxial section to velocities in the range 1.5--6.5{times}10{sup 7} cm/sec. A new set of acceleration/focusing electrodes 740 cm in length are projected to give an additional factor of 3 in radial compression with final velocities of 1--3{times}10{sup 8} cm/sec (similar to previously achieved on RACE) and incident power densities of a few {times}10{sup 11} W/cm{sup 2}. Compact torus accelerators scaled to multimegajoules have the potential to achieve unprecedented plasma velocities and power densities with many applications in high-energy-density physics.

• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5617578
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (USA), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids B; (USA) Vol. 3:8; ISSN PFBPE; ISSN 0899-8221
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
430100* -- Particle Accelerators-- Design
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70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
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ACCELERATION
ACCELERATORS
ANNULAR SPACE
CAPACITORS
CLOSED CONFIGURATIONS
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
COMPACT TORUS
COMPRESSION
CONFIGURATION
CONFINEMENT
CORRELATIONS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTRODES
EQUIPMENT
FLUID MECHANICS
FOCUSING
HYDRODYNAMICS
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MECHANICS
PLASMA
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA SWITCHES
SPACE
SWITCHES
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TORI
TOROIDAL CONFIGURATION