Radiation temperature in excess of 150 eV achieved on Z at Sandia
An important 1998 milestone in the intense z-pinch program at Sandia
National Laboratories is to obtain a hohlraum temperature of 150 eV
on the Z pulsed-power accelerator. We had expected to obtain 150 eV
by September 1998, but dynamic (imploding) hohlraum experiments
indicate that we exceeded this milestone on shot 214 on March 17.
On this shot, a double nested array of tungsten wires, rather than
a single tungsten wire array, is used to reduce the growth of
hydrodynamic instabilities in the imploding z pinch and thereby
increase the power radiated in x rays that can drive the hohlraum.
The hohlraum temperature is 155 + 12 eV. Shot 214 had an
annular plastic target, a 4-cm-diameter outer array of 240 wires,
and a 2-cm-diameter inner array of 120 wires. An open (slotted)
return current can was used to view the hohlraum azimuthally.
With a closed return current can, the temperature would be higher.
Having exceeded our first four Z milestones (>1.5 million joules in
November 1996, >150 trillion watts in November 1996, >100 eV in a
vacuum hohlraum in July 1997, and >150 eV in a dynamic hohlraum in
March 1998), we have formally requested DOE approval for the start
of conceptual design of X-1. The objectives of X-1 are a fusion
yield of 200 to 1000 million joules from a deuterium-tritium capsule
within a hohlraum, a flexible, well-characterized source for weapons
physics applications, and a cold and warm x-ray environment for
effects testing of weapons components in the absence of underground
tests. Our design expectations for X-1, based on x-ray energy and
power scaling on three generations of Sandia accelerators since 1985,
are a radiated x-ray power of >1000 trillion watts (3 times that
possible on Z) and a radiated energy of 16 million joules (9 times
that on Z).
Other Reports on High Energy Density and Inertial Confinement Fusion
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