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Title: Observations of the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability and shock dynamics in gas-puff Z-pinch experiments

Abstract

Here, we describe a series of experiments performed to study the shock structure generated during the implosion of a gas-puff Z-pinch. The Z-pinch is produced by a double-annular gas-puff with a center jet driven by Cornell University's COBRA generator operating with a 1 MA, 200 ns current pulse. Using 532 nm laser interferometry and 100 MHz multi-frame cameras, a shock structure is observed to form early in the implosion. The shock appears to be created by a current layer at the outer radius of the imploding plasma which acts as a piston moving inward at several hundred km s–1. The dynamics of the shock and its radial position ahead of the piston agree well with a simple uniform density model outlined in the study by Potter [Nucl. Fusion 18(6), 813 (1978)]. The outer surface of the current layer is observed to be Magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor unstable. The growth rate of this instability is found to depend on the radial density profile of the material within the layer of high-density fluid between the shock and the piston, as predicted by recent theoretical work [see, e.g., D. Livescu, Phys. Fluids 16(1), 118 (2004)]. Growth rates measured in krypton implosions, where the post-shock material ismore » found to decay quasi-exponentially away from the piston, were more than ten times smaller than those recorded in otherwise identical implosions in argon plasmas, where the material between the shock and the piston was observed to maintain a uniform density.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2];  [4]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [5]
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  1. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Imperial College London, London (United Kingdom)
  2. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
  3. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Naval Research Lab., Washington, D.C. (United States)
  4. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); L-3 Applied Technologies Inc., San Leandro, CA (United States)
  5. Imperial College London, London (United Kingdom)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1499669
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1459697
Grant/Contract Number:  
NA0003764; NA0001836
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 25; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

de Grouchy, P. W. L., Kusse, B. R., Banasek, J., Engelbrecht, J., Hammer, D. A., Qi, N., Rocco, S., and Bland, S. N. Observations of the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability and shock dynamics in gas-puff Z-pinch experiments. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5032084.
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de Grouchy, P. W. L., Kusse, B. R., Banasek, J., Engelbrecht, J., Hammer, D. A., Qi, N., Rocco, S., & Bland, S. N. Observations of the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability and shock dynamics in gas-puff Z-pinch experiments. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5032084
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de Grouchy, P. W. L., Kusse, B. R., Banasek, J., Engelbrecht, J., Hammer, D. A., Qi, N., Rocco, S., and Bland, S. N. Tue . "Observations of the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability and shock dynamics in gas-puff Z-pinch experiments". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5032084. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1499669.
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@article{osti_1499669,
title = {Observations of the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability and shock dynamics in gas-puff Z-pinch experiments},
author = {de Grouchy, P. W. L. and Kusse, B. R. and Banasek, J. and Engelbrecht, J. and Hammer, D. A. and Qi, N. and Rocco, S. and Bland, S. N.},
abstractNote = {Here, we describe a series of experiments performed to study the shock structure generated during the implosion of a gas-puff Z-pinch. The Z-pinch is produced by a double-annular gas-puff with a center jet driven by Cornell University's COBRA generator operating with a 1 MA, 200 ns current pulse. Using 532 nm laser interferometry and 100 MHz multi-frame cameras, a shock structure is observed to form early in the implosion. The shock appears to be created by a current layer at the outer radius of the imploding plasma which acts as a piston moving inward at several hundred km s–1. The dynamics of the shock and its radial position ahead of the piston agree well with a simple uniform density model outlined in the study by Potter [Nucl. Fusion 18(6), 813 (1978)]. The outer surface of the current layer is observed to be Magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor unstable. The growth rate of this instability is found to depend on the radial density profile of the material within the layer of high-density fluid between the shock and the piston, as predicted by recent theoretical work [see, e.g., D. Livescu, Phys. Fluids 16(1), 118 (2004)]. Growth rates measured in krypton implosions, where the post-shock material is found to decay quasi-exponentially away from the piston, were more than ten times smaller than those recorded in otherwise identical implosions in argon plasmas, where the material between the shock and the piston was observed to maintain a uniform density.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5032084},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 7,
volume = 25,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Tue Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5032084
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Cited by: 11 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Gas-puff hardware showing the triaxial valve mounted inside the generator cathode, the anode-cathode gap, and the (grounded) anode surface established by 8 radially orientated rods. An independently driven preionizer mounted above the puff valve ionizes the gas column before the generator current is applied.
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Works referenced in this record:

Principles of Plasma Diagnostics
book, January 2009

An overview of Rayleigh-Taylor instability
journal, July 1984

Diamond photoconducting detectors as high power z ‐pinch diagnostics (invited)
journal, January 1995

  • Spielman, Rick B.
  • Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 66, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1146188

The formation of high-density z-pinches
journal, June 1978

Controlling Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Magnetically Driven Solid Metal Shells by Means of a Dynamic Screw Pinch
journal, November 2016

Study of gas-puff Z-pinches on COBRA
journal, November 2014

  • Qi, N.; Rosenberg, E. W.; Gourdain, P. A.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4900748

Extreme ultraviolet imaging of wire array z-pinch experiments
journal, October 2004

  • Bland, S. N.; Ampleford, D. J.; Bott, S. C.
  • Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 75, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1787926

Oblique shock structures formed during the ablation phase of aluminium wire array z-pinches
journal, February 2013

  • Swadling, G. F.; Lebedev, S. V.; Niasse, N.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4790520

Compressibility effects on the Rayleigh–Taylor instability growth between immiscible fluids
journal, January 2004

High-Gain Magnetized Inertial Fusion
journal, January 2012

Characterization of the COBRA triple-nozzle gas-puff valve using planar laser induced fluorescence
conference, January 2014

  • de Grouchy, P. W. L.; Rosenberg, E.; Qi, N.
  • 9TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DENSE Z PINCHES, AIP Conference Proceedings
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4904773

A simple air wedge shearing interferometer for studying exploding wires
journal, January 2001

  • Pikuz, S. A.; Romanova, V. M.; Baryshnikov, N. V.
  • Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 72, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1321746

A Review of the Gas-Puff <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Z$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-Pinch as an X-Ray and Neutron Source
journal, August 2015

Computational modeling of Krypton gas puffs with tailored mass density profiles on Za)
journal, May 2015

  • Jennings, C. A.; Ampleford, D. J.; Lamppa, D. C.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4921154

Principles of Plasma Diagnostics
journal, January 1990

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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Multi-angle multi-pulse time-resolved Thomson scattering on laboratory plasma jets
    journal, October 2018

    • Banasek, J. T.; Rocco, S. V. R.; Potter, W. M.
    • Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 89, Issue 10
    • DOI: 10.1063/1.5034310

    Study of stability in a liner-on-target gas puff Z-pinch as a function of pre-embedded axial magnetic field
    journal, January 2020

    • Conti, F.; Aybar, N.; Narkis, J.
    • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 27, Issue 1
    • DOI: 10.1063/1.5131170

    Magnetic Rayleigh–Taylor Instability in an Experiment Simulating a Solar Loop
    journal, January 2020

    • Zhang, Yang; Wongwaitayakornkul, Pakorn; Bellan, Paul M.
    • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 889, Issue 2
    • DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab6b2d
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      Figures / Tables found in this record:

      Figure 1 (p. 2)figure
      Figure 2 (p. 3)figure
      Figure 3 (p. 3)figure
      Figure 4 (p. 4)figure
      Figure 5 (p. 5)figure
      Figure 6 (p. 5)figure
      Figure 7 (p. 6)figure
      Figure 8 (p. 6)figure
      Figure 9 (p. 7)figure
      Figure 10 (p. 8)figure
      Figure 11 (p. 8)figure
      Figure 12 (p. 9)figure
      Figure 13 (p. 9)figure
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