Aspects of magnetic switch design and pulse compression

The author details research work on the feasibility of the so-called `dense Z-pinch´ plasma configuration for power production by nuclear fusion. The DZP plasma is set up as a short (typically 10 cm), thin (typically 40 μm), linear discharge between two electrodes. The high pinch intensity aids plasma stability and eliminates the need for externally applied confining fields. However the plasma current and its initial rate of rise need to be high (typically 2.5 MA and 10 MA/μs peak) and this necessitates the use of a pulsed power feed to the electrodes. The feed spec, which involves typical voltage and pulse length conditions of 2 MV and 2 μs, is within the state of the art for `single-shot´ pulse feeds but the requirement for repetitive operation at a pulsage per second between 20 and 200 is not, so far known