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We have conceived a new class of prime-power sources for pulsed-power accelerators: impedance-matched Marx generators (IMGs). The fundamental building block of an IMG is a brick, which consists of two capacitors connected electrically in series with a single switch. An IMG comprises a single stage or several stages distributed axially and connected in series. Each stage is powered by a single brick or several bricks distributed azimuthally within the stage and connected in parallel. The stages of a multistage IMG drive an impedance-matched coaxial transmission line with a conical center conductor. When the stages are triggered sequentially to launch a coherent traveling wave along the coaxial line, the IMG achieves electromagnetic-power amplification by triggered emission of radiation. Hence a multistage IMG is a pulsed-power analogue of a laser. To illustrate the IMG approach to prime power, we have developed conceptual designs of two ten-stage IMGs with LC time constants on the order of 100 ns. One design includes 20 bricks per stage, and delivers a peak electrical power of 1.05 TW to a matched-impedance 1.22-Ω load. The design generates 113 kV per stage and has a maximum energy efficiency of 89%. The other design includes a single brick per stage, delivers 68 GW to a matched-impedance 19-Ω load, generates 113 kV per stage, and has a maximum energy efficiency of 90%. For a given electrical-power-output time history, an IMG is less expensive and slightly more efficient than a linear transformer driver, since an IMG does not use ferromagnetic cores.

We have developed a conceptual design of a next-generation pulsed-power accelerator that is optimized for megajoule-class dynamic-material-physics experiments. Sufficient electrical energy is delivered by the accelerator to a physics load to achieve—within centimeter-scale samples—material pressures as high as 1 TPa. The accelerator design is based on an architecture that is founded on three concepts: single-stage electrical-pulse compression, impedance matching, and transit-time-isolated drive circuits. The prime power source of the accelerator consists of 600 independent impedance-matched Marx generators. Each Marx comprises eight 5.8-GW bricks connected electrically in series, and generates a 100-ns 46-GW electrical-power pulse. A 450-ns-long water-insulated coaxial-transmission-line impedance transformer transports the power generated by each Marx to a system of twelve 2.5-m-radius water-insulated conical transmission lines. The conical lines are connected electrically in parallel at a 66-cm radius by a water-insulated 45-post sextuple-post-hole convolute. The convolute sums the electrical currents at the outputs of the conical lines, and delivers the combined current to a single solid-dielectric-insulated radial transmission line. The radial line in turn transmits the combined current to the load. Since much of the accelerator is water insulated, we refer to it as Neptune. Neptune is 40 m in diameter, stores 4.8 MJ of electrical energy in its Marx capacitors, and generates 28 TW of peak electrical power. Since the Marxes are transit-time isolated from each other for 900 ns, they can be triggered at different times to construct–over an interval as long as 1 μs–the specific load-current time history required for a given experiment. Neptune delivers 1 MJ and 20 MA in a 380-ns current pulse to an 18-mΩ load; hence Neptune is a megajoule-class 20-MA arbitrary waveform generator. Neptune will allow the international scientific community to conduct dynamic equation-of-state, phase-transition, mechanical-property, and other material-physics experiments with a wide variety of drive-pressure time histories.

We have developed conceptual designs of two petawatt-class pulsed-power accelerators: Z 300 and Z 800. The designs are based on an accelerator architecture that is founded on two concepts: single-stage electrical-pulse compression and impedance matching [Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 10, 030401 (2007)]. The prime power source of each machine consists of 90 linear-transformer-driver (LTD) modules. Each module comprises LTD cavities connected electrically in series, each of which is powered by 5-GW LTD bricks connected electrically in parallel. (A brick comprises a single switch and two capacitors in series.) Six water-insulated radial-transmission-line impedance transformers transport the power generated by the modules to a six-level vacuum-insulator stack. The stack serves as the accelerator’s water-vacuum interface. The stack is connected to six conical outer magnetically insulated vacuum transmission lines (MITLs), which are joined in parallel at a 10-cm radius by a triple-post-hole vacuum convolute. The convolute sums the electrical currents at the outputs of the six outer MITLs, and delivers the combined current to a single short inner MITL. The inner MITL transmits the combined current to the accelerator’s physics-package load. Z 300 is 35 m in diameter and stores 48 MJ of electrical energy in its LTD capacitors. The accelerator generates 320 TW of electrical power at the output of the LTD system, and delivers 48 MA in 154 ns to a magnetized-liner inertial-fusion (MagLIF) target [Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)]. The peak electrical power at the MagLIF target is 870 TW, which is the highest power throughout the accelerator. Power amplification is accomplished by the centrally located vacuum section, which serves as an intermediate inductive-energy-storage device. The principal goal of Z 300 is to achieve thermonuclear ignition; i.e., a fusion yield that exceeds the energy transmitted by the accelerator to the liner. 2D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations suggest Z 300 will deliver 4.3 MJ to the liner, and achieve a yield on the order of 18 MJ. Z 800 is 52 m in diameter and stores 130 MJ. This accelerator generates 890 TW at the output of its LTD system, and delivers 65 MA in 113 ns to a MagLIF target. The peak electrical power at the MagLIF liner is 2500 TW. The principal goal of Z 800 is to achieve high-yield thermonuclear fusion; i.e., a yield that exceeds the energy initially stored by the accelerator’s capacitors. 2D MHD simulations suggest Z 800 will deliver 8.0 MJ to the liner, and achieve a yield on the order of 440 MJ. Z 300 and Z 800, or variations of these accelerators, will allow the international high-energy-density-physics community to conduct advanced inertial-confinement-fusion, radiation-physics, material-physics, and laboratory-astrophysics experiments over heretofore-inaccessible parameter regimes.

A 6.1-MV, 0.79-MA laser-triggered gas switch (LTGS) is used to synchronize the 36 modules of the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories. Each module includes one switch, which serves as the last command-fired switch of the module, and hence is used to determine the time at which each module electrically closes relative to the other modules. The switch is ∼81-cm in length, ∼45-cm in diameter, and is immersed in mineral oil. The outer switch envelope consists of six corrugated monomer-cast acrylic insulators and five contoured stainless-steel rings. The trigger electrodes are fabricated from copper-infused tungsten. The switch is pressurized with several atmospheres of sulfur hexafluoride (SF_{6}), which is turbulently purged within 2 seconds after every shot. Each switch is powered from a 6-MV, 0.78-MJ Marx generator which pulse charges a 24-nF intermediate-store water capacitor in 1.4-μs. Closure of the switch allows power to flow into pulse-forming transmission lines. The power pulse is subsequently compressed by water switches, which results in a total accelerator output power in excess of 70-TW. A previous version of the LTGS performed exceptionally at a 5.4-MV, 0.7-MA level on an engineering test module used for switch development. It exhibited a 1-σ jitter of ∼5 ns, a prefire and flashover rate less than 0.1%, and a lifetime in excess of 150 shots. When installed on the Z accelerator, however, the switch exhibited a prefire probability of ∼3%, a flashover probability of ∼7%, and a 15-ns jitter. The difference in performance is attributed to several factors such as higher total charge transfer, exposure to more debris, and more stressful dynamic mechanical loading upon machine discharge. Under these conditions, the replacement lifetime was less than ten shots. Since refurbishment of Z in October 2007, there have been three LTGS design iterations to improve the performance at 6.1-MV. The most recent design exhibits a prefire rate of less than 0.1%, a flashover rate of ∼0.2%, a single switch jitter of ∼6-ns, and a lifetime of greater than 75 shots. Modifications to achieve the performance improvement are detailed in this article.

We demonstrate that a wide variety of current-pulse shapes can be generated using a linear-transformer-driver (LTD) module that drives an internal water-insulated transmission line. The shapes are produced by varying the timing and initial charge voltage of each of the module’s cavities. The LTD-driven accelerator architecture outlined in [Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 10, 030401 (2007)PRABFM1098-440210.1103/PhysRevSTAB.10.030401] provides additional pulse-shaping flexibility by allowing the modules that drive the accelerator to be triggered at different times. The module output pulses would be combined and symmetrized by water-insulated radial-transmission-line impedance transformers [Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 11, 030401 (2008)PRABFM1098-440210.1103/PhysRevSTAB.11.030401].