Progress with developing a target for magnetized target fusion

Summary form only given, as follows. Magnetized target fusion (MTF) is an approach to fusion where a preheated and magnetized plasma is adiabatically compressed to fusion conditions. Successful MTF requires a suitable initial target plasma with an embedded magnetic field of at least 5 T in a closed-field-line topology, a density of roughly 10/sup 18/ cm/sup -3/, a temperature of at least 50 eV, and must be free of impurities which would raise radiation losses. Target plasma generation experiments are underway at Los Alamos National Laboratory using the Colt facility; a 0.25 MJ, 2-3 /spl mu/s rise-time capacitor bank. In the first experiments, a Z-pinch is produced in a 2 cm radius by 2 cm high conducting wall using a static gas-fill of hydrogen or deuterium gas in the range of 0.5 to 2 torr. Follow-on experiments will use a frozen deuterium fiber along the axis (without a gas-fill). The diagnostics include B-dot probes, framing camera, gated OMA visible spectrometer, time-resolved monochrometer, silicon photodiodes, neutron yield, and plasma-density interferometer. Operation to date has been with drive currents ranging from 0.8 MA to 1.9 MA. Optical diagnostics show that the plasma produced in the containment region lasts roughly 20 to 30 /spl mu/s, and the B-dot probes show a broad current-profile in the containment region. The experimental design and data will be presented.