The NRL frozen deuterium fiber Z-pinch experiment

Conference · Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (USA)

OSTI ID:6412538

Sethian, J D; Robson, A E; Gerber, K A; DeSilva, A W ^[1]

---

1. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC (USA)

Previous experiments at NRL have shown z-pinches formed from 60 to 125 micron diameter frozen D{sub 2} fibers were stable as long as the current was rising. At current peak the pinch went rapidly {ital m}=0 unstable and emitted 2.45 MeV neutrons whose total number scaled as {ital I}{sup 10}. The maximum current was 640 kA with a rise time of 130 nsec. A new generator, called ZFX, has been built to increase the current through the pinch to up to 2 MA. In preliminary experiments with ZFX at currents of 450 kA, streak photos again shown the pinch is stable as long as the current is rising, except that the stable period has been extended to 300 nsec. X-ray pinhole photos also show a straight, uniform pinch. The number of neutrons produced by the pinch when it goes unstable is consistent with the previously observed {ital I}{sup 10} scaling.

• OSTI ID: 6412538
• Report Number(s): CONF-8904107-; CODEN: APCPC; TRN: 90-034433
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (USA), Vol. 195:1; Conference: 2. international conference on high-density pinches (ICHDP-2), Laguna Beach, CA (USA), 26-28 Apr 1989; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
DEUTERIUM
PINCH EFFECT
LINEAR Z PINCH DEVICES
PERFORMANCE
PLASMA PRODUCTION
STABILITY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
KILO AMP BEAM CURRENTS
MEV RANGE 01-10
NEUTRON EMISSION
OPERATION
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
STREAK PHOTOGRAPHY
X RADIATION
BEAM CURRENTS
CURRENTS
DATA
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EMISSION
ENERGY RANGE
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INFORMATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
LINEAR PINCH DEVICES
MEV RANGE
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
OPEN PLASMA DEVICES
PHOTOGRAPHY
PINCH DEVICES
RADIATIONS
STABLE ISOTOPES
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
700101* - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research- Confinement
Heating
& Production
700209 - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Component Development & Materials Testing
700102 - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research- Diagnostics