A capsule review of three years of progress in the Sandia Z-pinch program

Author

Sweeney, M.A.

Author_Institution

Sandia Nat. Labs., Albuquerque, NM, USA

fYear

1999

Firstpage

326

Abstract

Summary form only given. In May 1996 modifications began to the PBFA II accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories to produce fast (submicrosecond) plasma implosions, called z pinches, that are driven by intense magnetic fields (/spl sim/1000 Tesla) associated with the large (/spl sim/20 MA) axial currents. The modifications to the water lines, the insulator stack, and the self-magnetically-insulated transmission lines were completed in September 1996, and the first z-pinch-driven X-ray radiation source shot on the new facility occurred on October 2. Today the facility, renamed Z, is the most energetic source of laboratory X-rays and has led to what some have termed a "renaissance" in z pinches for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and defense applications.

Keywords

X-ray production; Z pinch; fusion reactor operation; fusion reactor theory; particle beam fusion accelerators; plasma inertial confinement; reviews; 1000 tesla; 20 MA; PBFA II accelerator; Sandia National Laboratories; Sandia Z-pinch program; defense applications; energetic source; inertial confinement fusion; insulator stack; intense magnetic fields; laboratory X-ray source; plasma implosion; self-magnetically-insulated transmission lines; water lines; z pinches; Accelerator magnets; Inertial confinement; Insulation; Laboratories; Magnetic fields; Plasma accelerators; Plasma sources; Plasma x-ray sources; Transmission lines; Water resources;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Plasma Science, 1999. ICOPS '99. IEEE Conference Record - Abstracts. 1999 IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Monterey, CA, USA

ISSN

0730-9244

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5224-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PLASMA.1999.829723

Filename

829723