An overview of the Atlas pulsed-power systems

Atlas is a facility being designed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to perform high energy-density experiments in support of weapon-physics and basic-research programs. It is designed to be an international user facility, providing experimental opportunities to researchers from national laboratories and academic institutions. For hydrodynamic experiments, it will be capable of achieving pressures exceeding 20-Mbar in a several cm/sup 3/ volume. With the development of a suitable opening switch, it will also be capable of producing soft X-rays. The 36 MJ capacitor bank will consist of 240 kV Marx modules arranged around a central target chamber. The Marx modules will be discharged through vertical triplate transmission lines to a parallel plate collector inside the target chamber. The capacitor bank is designed to deliver a peak current of 45 to 50 MA with a 4- to 5-/spl mu/s risetime. The Marx modules are designed to be reconfigured to a 480 kV configuration for opening switch development. Predicted performance with a typical load is presented. Descriptions of the major subsystems are also presented.