Conveners
4.6 Fast Z Pinches III
- Bruno Bauer (Univ of Nevada - Reno)
Staged Z-pinch experiments at the Nevada Terawatt Facility at UNR show evidence of uniform compression of a deuterium plasma target compressed by a high-Z, Argon or Krypton gas-puffed liner. Pinch stability is improved by seeding the implosion with an axial magnetic field of 0.1 to 0.2T. Implosion dynamics and stagnation conditions are also studied computationally with the radiation-MHD code...
We present initial test results and design considerations for a Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) device designed and built by Verus Research for the next generation of neutrons for Test and Evaluation applications. The DPF concept, developed in the late 1950’s, was used in part as a method of investigating plasma physics phenomena. The neutron radiation generated from a DPF can be used for multiple...
Verus Research designed, built, and operates a dense plasma focus (DPF) in Albuquerque, NM, providing a high-flux fusion neutron source for Test & Evaluation applications. Our DPF operates in direct drive with a 750-kJ capacitor bank providing 1.5-3 MA at 30-50 kV, producing $10^{11}-10^{12}$ neutrons in a sub-microsecond pulse using >10 Torr deuterium background gas. This report focuses on...
Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) experiment on the HAWK pulsed power generator (640 kV, 665 kA peak current) in Naval Research Laboratory had been recently modified to include hollow anode and on-axis gas puff. The increased neutron yield, up to $3.6\times10^{10}$, of the new configuration deserves precise modeling, which was the goal of the reported work. We simulate the gas puff, the plasma...
Preconditioned wire array Z-pinch experiments are carried out based on a double-pulse current generator “Qin-1” facility. The facility can generate a ~300 kA/300 ns current pulse with a charging voltage of ±35 kV, when driving the preheated aluminum wire array (8 wires, diameter of 1 cm, length of 1 cm). The feature of this facility is that an adjustable prepulse current (~15 kA/45 ns) can be...
The formation of plasma and ablation dynamics of metallic liner z-pinch is investigated. The size of 2mm in diameter, 0.1mm in thickness liners are exploded on the Qin-1 facility (~250ns, 300kA). Radial and axial laser diagnostic platforms are set up to observe the dynamics from different direction simultaneously. We use screws to fix the liner which constructs a special point-contact...
