11 research outputs found
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Plasma gate switch experiment on Pegasus II
The plasma gate switch is a novel technique for producing a long conduction time vacuum opening switch. The switch consists of an aluminum foil which connects the cathode to the anode in a coaxial geometry. The foil is designed so that the maximum axial acceleration is in the center of the foil and that at the appropriate time, the center opens up and magnetic flux is carried down the gun to the load region. The switch is designed to minimize the amount of mass transported into the load region. We have completed the first experimental test of this design and present results from the test. These results indicate there were some asymmetry problems in the construction of the switch but that otherwise the switch performed as expected
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Computational and experimental investigation of magnetized target fusion
In Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF), a preheated and magnetized target plasma is hydrodynamically compressed to fusion conditions. Because the magnetic field suppresses losses by electron thermal conduction in the fuel during the target implosion heating process, the compression may be over a much longer time scale than in traditional inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Bigger targets and much lower initial target densities than in ICF can be used, reducing radiative energy losses. Therefore, ``liner-on-plasma`` compressions, driven by relatively inexpensive electrical pulsed power, may be practical. Potential MTF target plasmas must meet minimum temperature, density, and magnetic field starting conditions, and must remain relatively free of high-Z radiation-cooling-enhancing contaminants. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, computational and experimental research is being pursued into MTF target plasmas, such as deuterium-fiber-initiated Z-pinches, and the Russian-originated MAGO plasma. In addition, liner-on-plasma compressions of such target plasmas to fusion conditions are being computationally modeled, and experimental investigation of such heavy liner implosions has begun. The status of the research will be presented
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Dense Z-pinch plasmas
Early researchers recogniZed the desirable features of the linear Z-pinch configuration as a magnetic fusion scheme. In particular, a Z-pinch reactor might not require auxiliary heating or external field coils, and could constitute an uncomplicated, high plasma ..beta.. geometry. The simple Z pinch, however, exhibited gross MHD instabilities that disrupted the plasma, and the linear Z pinch was abandoned in favor of more stable configurations. Recent advances in pulsed-power technology and an appreciation of the dynamic behavior of an ohmically heated Z pinch have led to a reexamination of the Z pinch as a workable fusion concept
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Pegasus II experiments and plans for the Atlas pulsed power facility
Atlas will be a high-energy (36 MJ stored), high-power ({approximately} 10 TW) pulsed power driver for high energy-density experiments, with an emphasis on hydrodynamics. Scheduled for completion in late 1999, Atlas is designed to produce currents in the 40-50 MA range with a quarter-cycle time of 4-5 {mu}s. It will drive implosions of heavy liners (typically 50 g) with implosion velocities exceeding 20 mm/{mu}s. Under these conditions very high pressures and magnetic fields are produced. Shock pressures in the 50 Mbar range and pressures exceeding 10 Mbar in an adiabatic compression will be possible. By performing flux compression of a seed field, axial magnetic fields in the 2000 T range may be achieved. A variety of concepts have been identified for the first experimental campaigns on Atlas. These experiments include Rayleigh-Taylor instability studies, convergent (e.g., Bell-Plesset type) instability studies, material strength experiments at very high strain and strain rate, hydrodynamic flows in 3-dimensional geometries, equation of state measurements along the hugoniot and adiabats, transport and shock propagation in dense strongly-coupled plasmas, and atomic and condensed matter studies employing ultra-high magnetic fields. Experimental configurations, associated physics issues, and diagnostic strategies are all under investigation as the design of the Atlas facility proceeds. Near-term proof-of-principle experiments employing the smaller Pegasus II capacitor bank have been identified, and several of these experiments have not been performed. This paper discusses a number of recent Pegasus II experiments and identifies several areas of research presently planned on Atlas
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Instability heating of the HDZP
We present a model of dense Z-Pinch heating. For pinches of sufficiently small diameter and high current, direct ion heating by m=0 instabilities becomes the principal channel for power input. This process is particularly important in the present generation of dense micro-pinches (e.g., HDZP-II) where instability growth times are much smaller than current risetimes, and a typical pinch diameter is several orders smaller than that of the chamber. Under these conditions, m=0 formation is not disruptive: the large E{sub z} field reconnects the instability cusps externally, after which the ingested magnetic flux decays into turbulent kinetic energy of the plasma. The continuous process is analogous to boiling of a heated fluid. A simple analysis shows that an equivalent resistance R{sub t} = {ell}/4{radical}Nm{sub i}({mu}{sub 0}/{pi}){sup 3/2}I/r appears in the driving circuit, where I is the pinch current, N is the line density, {ell} is the pinch length, m{sub i} is the ion mass, and r is the pinch radius. A corresponding heating term has been added to the ion energy equation in a 0-D, self-similar simulation, which had been written previously to estimate fusion yields and radial expansion of D{sub 2} fiber pinches. The simulation results agree well with the experimental results from HDZP-II, where the assumption of only joule heating produced gross disagreement. Turbulent ion heating should be the dominant process in any simple pinch carrying meg-ampere current and having submillimeter radius
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Optical diagnostics on dense Z-pinch plasmas
A novel ``point-diffraction`` interferometer has been implemented on the Los Alamos Solid Fiber Z-Pinch experiment. The laser beam is split into two legs after passing through the plasma. The reference leg is filtered with a pin-hole aperture and recombined with the other leg to form an interferogram. This allows compact mounting of the optics and relative ease of alignment. The Z-Pinch experiment employs a pulsed-power generator that delivers up to 700 KA with a 100ns rise-time through a fiber of deuterium or deuterated polyethylene (CD{sub s}) that is 5-cm long and initially solid with radius r{approx}15{mu}m. The interferometer, using a {triangle}t{approx}200ps pulse from a Nd:YAG laser frequency doubled to {lambda}=532nm, measures the electron line density and, assuming azimuthal symmetry, the density as a function of radial and axial position. Calculations predict Faraday rotations of order {pi}/2 for plasma and current densities that this experiment was designed to produce. The resulting periodic loss of fringes would provide the current density distribution
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Stability of Magnetically Implode Liners for High Energy Density Experiments
Magnetically imploded cylindrical metal shells (z-pinch liners) are attractive drivers for a wide variety of hydrodynamics and material properties experiments. The ultimate utility of liners depends on the acceleration of near-solid density shells to velocities exceeding 20 km/sec with good azimuthal symmetry and axial uniformity. Two pulse power systems (Ranchero and Atlas) currently operational or under development at Los Alamos provide electrical energy adequate to accelerate {approximately}50 gr. liners to 1-2 MJ/cm kinetic energy. As in all z-pinches, the outer surface of a magnetically imploded liner is unstable to magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) modes during acceleration. Large-scale distortion in the liners from RT modes growing from glide plane interactions or initial imperfections could make liners unusable for man experiments. On the other hand, material strength in the liner should, from first principles, reduce the growth rate of RT modes - and can render some combinations of wavelength and amplitude analytically stable. The growth of instabilities in both soft aluminum liners and in high strength aluminum alloy liners has been studied analytically, computationally and experimentally at liner kinetic energies up to 100 KJ/cm on the Pegasus capacitor bank using driving currents up to 12 MA
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Pulsed power hydrodynamics : a new application of high magnetic fields.
Pulsed Power Hydrodynamics is a new application of high magnetic fields recently developed to explore advanced hydrodynamics, instabilities, fluid turbulences, and material properties in a highly precise, controllable environment at the extremes of pressure and material velocity. The Atlas facility at Los Alamos is the world's first and only laboratory pulsed power system designed specifically to explore this relatively new family of megagauss magnetic field applications. Constructed in 2000 and commissioned in August 2001, Atlas is a 24-MJ high-performance capacitor bank delivering up to 30 MA with a current risetime of 5-6 {micro}sec. The high-precision, cylindrical, imploding liner is the tool most frequently used to convert electrical energy into the hydrodynamic (particle kinetic) energy needed to drive the experiments. For typical liner parameters including initial radius of 5 cm, the peak current of 30 MA delivered by Atlas results in magnetic fields just over 1 MG outside the liner prior to implosion. During the 5 to 10-{micro}sec implosion, the field outside the liner rises to several MG in typical situations. At these fields the rear surface of the liner is melted and it is subject to a variety of complex behaviors including: diffusion dominated andor melt wave field penetration and heating, magneto Raleigh-Taylor sausage mode behavior at the liner/field interface, and azimuthal asymmetry due to perturbations in current drive. The first Atlas liner implosion experiments were conducted in September 2000 and 10-15 experiments are planned in the: first year of operation. Immediate applications of the new pulsed power hydrodynamics techniques include material property topics including: exploration of material strength at high rates of strain, material failure including fracture and spall, and interfacial dynamics at high relative velocities and high interfacial pressures. A variety of complex hydrodynamic geometries will be explored and experiments will be designed to explore uristable perturbation growth and transition to turbulence. This paper will provide an overview of the range of problems to which pulsed power hydrodynamics can be applied and the issues associated with these techniques. Other papers at this Conference will present specifics of individual experiments and elaborate on the liner physics issues