PBFA-Z radiated energy and power milestones achieved on same shot
On November 21, a peak power of ~ 160 TW in soft x rays was produced on the PBFA-II accelerator at Sandia
National Laboratories operating in the z-pinch mode. On this 17th radiation shot, both design goals were
exceeded for PBFA Z: 1.5 MJ and 150 TW of x-ray energy and power. An intense (1.8 MJ), short (7 ns) pulse
of soft x rays was created when the magnetically-driven imploding plasma stagnated on axis at a diameter of ~
1 mm. A current of 17 MA was delivered to the z-pinch load in an implosion time of ~ 108 ns. The load
consisted of 240 tungsten wires, each 7.5 microns in diameter, configured in a cylindrical array at a diameter
of 4 cm and a length of 2 cm. The wire-to-wire circumferential gap spacing on the shot was 0.05 cm; on most
previous PBFA-Z radiation shots, the wire-to-wire circumferential gap spacing was 0.1 cm (120 wires). We will
now study the energy and power scaling for smaller-diameter cylindrical wire arrays (1.75 cm diameter instead
of 4 cm) that will be used for hohlraum experiments. The dramatic increase in x-ray energy and power from fast
z-pinch implosions has created new interest in these energetic sources for indirect-drive inertial confinement
fusion and is having a major impact on their application to weapons physics issues related to science-based
stockpile stewardship. Because of these successes, PBFA II will be dedicated to driving z-pinch experiments
for the next two to three years.
Other Reports on High Energy Density and Inertial Confinement Fusion
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