Array on array circuit studies for ICF radiation pulse tailoring

Summary form only given, as follows. The Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories is a z-pinch facility capable of producing a 1 MJ, 200 eV radiation source. At present, this source is being investigated as a potential driver for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. For optimum ICF capsule implosions, however, it will be necessary to generate shaped radiation pulses. Specifically, it will be necessary to generate a 10-20 ns foot prior to the main radiation pulse, with about 1/14 the amplitude of the peak radiation. One possible method of generating an appropriately shaped radiation pulse is to use nested wire arrays. The array parameters can in principle be chosen to allow different arrival times on axis, thereby producing a shaped radiation pulse. To investigate this possibility, we utilized a simple formulation for self and mutual inductances for the nested arrays. We added to this formulation a modification of the equations of motion by introducing instantaneous momentum transfer when the position of the two arrays coincides.