36 research outputs found
High yield fusion in a Staged Z-pinch
We simulate fusion in a Z-pinch; where the load is a xenon-plasma liner
imploding onto a deuterium-tritium plasma target and the driver is a 2 MJ, 17
MA, 95 ns risetime pulser. The implosion system is modeled using the dynamic,
2-1/2 D, radiation-MHD code, MACH2. During implosion a shock forms in the Xe
liner, transporting current and energy radially inward. After collision with
the DT, a secondary shock forms pre-heating the DT to several hundred eV.
Adiabatic compression leads subsequently to a fusion burn, as the target is
surrounded by a flux-compressed, intense, azimuthal-magnetic field. The
intense-magnetic field confines fusion -particles, providing an
additional source of ion heating that leads to target ignition. The target
remains stable up to the time of ignition. Predictions are for a neutron yield
of and a thermonuclear energy of 84 MJ, that is, 42 times
greater than the initial, capacitor-stored energy
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Titanium K-Shell X-Ray Production from High Velocity Wire Arrays Implosions on the 20-MA Z Accelerator
The advent of the 20-MA Z accelerator [R.B. Spielman, C. Deeney, G.A. Chandler, et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 2105, (1997)] has enabled implosions of large diameter, high-wire-number arrays of titanium to begin testing Z-pinch K-shell scaling theories. The 2-cm long titanium arrays, which were mounted on a 40-mm diameter, produced between 75{+-}15 to 125{+-}20 kJ of K-shell x-rays. Mass scans indicate that, as predicted, higher velocity implosions in the series produced higher x-ray yields. Spectroscopic analyses indicate that these high velocity implosions achieved peak electron temperatures from 2.7{+-}0.1 to 3.2{+-}0.2 keV and obtained a K-shell emission mass participation of up to 12%