Ablation Studies of Low-Number Wire Arrays at 200 kA Using A Linear Transformer Driver

Author

Bott, Simon C. ; Haas, David M. ; Eshaq, Yossof ; Ueda, Utako ; Madden, Robert E. ; Collins, Gilbert W., IV ; Beg, Farhat N.

Author_Institution

Center for Energy Res., Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

Volume

38

Issue

4

fYear

2010

fDate

4/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

567

Lastpage

573

Abstract

We present the preliminary results from the first ablation studies of wire-array z-pinches using a short-pulse linear transformer driver (LTD) providing a current of 200 kA in 150 ns. Laser imaging is used to recover the ablation-flare wavelength for comparison with previous studies and to provide quantitative information on the axial-density variation of this structure. The results are used to determine the general form of the variation of the ablation velocity in the axial direction, and fits to data can infer the range of values required to describe observed modulation. In addition, conical arrays demonstrate the formation and propagation of moderate atomic-number plasma jets comparable with those observed in mega-ampere experiments.

Keywords

Z pinch; laser ablation; plasma diagnostics; plasma jets; plasma light propagation; plasma transport processes; ablation velocity; ablation-flare wavelength; atomic-number plasma jets; axial direction; axial-density variation; conical arrays; current 200 kA; laser imaging; linear transformer driver; low-number wire arrays; mega-ampere experiments; time 150 ns; wire-array z-pinches; Precursor plasma; wire ablation; wire-array $z$-pinch;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2009.2034166

Filename

5313950