Scaling z-pinch plasmas with atomic number for a given K-shell emission. Memorandum report
A major goal in using z-pinch plasmas as high brightness laboratory sources of x rays is to increase the radiation emission above about 1keV through the use of moderate atomic number (Z = 10 to 36) materials. Two kinds of configuration, single wires and wire arrays or foils, have been investigated in the past. In both cases, it has been observed that optimal x-ray emission decreases on a given machine as the atomic number of the z-pitch material is increased. This paper describes how a previously developed model can be modified and extended to provide predictions of how machine and diode designs must be scaled in order to maintain a given K-shell x-ray emission as the plasma atomic number increases in z-pinch array implosions. Simple scaling arguments are developed to show how specification of a desired total K-shell emission can be used to determine the parameters of an imploding array z-pinch plasma as a function of the atomic number of the pinch. The model we use ignores all hydrodynamic details of the z-pinch implosion and thermalization processes and assumes that all the plasma mass is imploded and thermalized. The pinch is also assumed to be driven by a prescribed linearly rising current. Scaling laws that are derived from these assumptions, in effect, contain phenomenological scaling parameters whose values will need to be more accurately determined by more detailed theoretical calculations and/or by z-pinch experiments on a variety of different machines.
- Research Organization:
- Naval Research Lab., Washington, DC (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 7242888
- Report Number(s):
- AD-A-215703/0/XAB; NRL-MR-6579
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
PLASMA
X RADIATION
X-RAY SOURCES
ATOMIC NUMBER
BRIGHTNESS
EMISSION
FOILS
IMPLOSIONS
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
MASS
OPTIMIZATION
PINCH EFFECT
PROGRESS REPORT
SCALING LAWS
SHELL MODELS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EQUIPMENT
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUCLEAR MODELS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIATIONS
X-RAY EQUIPMENT
700103* - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research- Kinetics