Fast 80-Ns Implosion Times with Z Accelerator Demonstrate Quadratic Peak Radiated Power and Energy Dependence on Load Current

Summary form only given. The dependence of the peak radiated X-ray power and total radiated energy on the load current comes even closer to quadratic with the continuation of our Z accelerator current scaling campaign. The experiments are being performed mainly with two Marx charging voltages, 90 kV and 60 kV, which provide accordingly 16-MA and 13-MA peak current into the load. The load masses utilized are approximately equal to half the ones previously utilized and equal to 2.5 mg for the higher current and 1.1 mg for the lower current. The arrays utilized are of 20 mm diameter and 10 mm height with 300 tungsten wires. These loads give peak powers of up to 180 TW, the highest ever obtained with single tungsten arrays. Although the total radiated energy is lower than for the heavier mass and longer ~100 ns implosion time shots, the radiated energy up to peak power is the same. This makes fast implosions most attractive for ICF applications and suggest shorter rise times for the future high current Z-pinch drivers. Experimental results, numerical simulations and ZR circuit model predictions will be presented