Search

We present a technique for experimentally measuring two-dimensional radiation temperatures in dynamic Hohlraums on Z. In principle the technique can be applied to any radiation source. Total radiated power from the source is measured by normalizing the area under an x-ray diode signal to energy yield measured by a bolometer. The radiated power as a function of time, which is just the normalized x-ray diode signal, can then be used to normalize gated microchannel plate x-ray pinhole camera images. The procedure is most accurate when the gated x-ray pinhole camera has the same filter as the x-ray diode and when the filter is transmissive near the peak of the Planckian radiation temperature being measured. We present results for two-dimensional radiation temperatures as a function of time for dynamic Hohlraum experiments on Z. In these experiments a z pinch consisting of nested tungsten wire arrays driven by the 20 MA, 100 ns Z accelerator implodes onto cylindrical foam located on axis. X-ray diodes and bolo...

As a result of advances in fast pulsed-power technology and cylindrical load fabrication, the Z pulsed-power accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories drives currents approaching 20 MA with a rise time of approximately 100 ns through cylindrically-symmetric loads (typically a cylindrical array consisting of a few hundred wires) to produce plasma densities in excess of , x-ray output energies approaching 2 MJ, radiation pulses as short as 4 ns and peak x-ray powers as high as . More than 15% of the stored electrical energy in the Z pulsed-power accelerator is converted into x-rays. The plasma pressures at peak compression are several TPa with electron temperatures that can exceed 3 keV at containment magnetic fields exceeding 1000 T. Depending on the atomic number and composition of the imploding plasma, these z-pinches can be tailored to produce intense sources of thermal x-rays, keV x-rays or neutrons. Although applications of these x-ray sources have included research in radiation material interaction, equations of state, opacity, astrophysics and x-ray lasers, the principal focus of the present research is to use them for indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF).

A systematic experimental study of annular aluminum-wire Z-pinches on a 20-TW electrical generator shows that the measured spatial characteristics and emitted x-ray power agree more closely with rad-hydro simulations when large numbers of wires are used. The measured x-ray power increases first slowly and then rapidly with decreasing interwire gap spacing. Simulations suggested that this increase reflects the transition from implosion of individual wire plasmas to one of an azimuthally symmetric plasma shell. In the plasma-shell regime, x-ray powers of 40 TW are achieved.

We have developed a system of differential-output monitors that diagnose current and voltage in the vacuum section of a 20-MA 3-MV pulsed-power accelerator. The system includes 62 gauges: 3 current and 6 voltage monitors that are fielded on each of the accelerator's 4 vacuum-insulator stacks, 6 current monitors on each of the accelerator's 4 outer magnetically insulated transmission lines (MITLs), and 2 current monitors on the accelerator's inner MITL. The inner-MITL monitors are located 6 cm from the axis of the load. Each of the stack and outer-MITL current monitors comprises two separate $B$-dot sensors, each of which consists of four 3-mm-diameter wire loops wound in series. The two sensors are separately located within adjacent cavities machined out of a single piece of copper. The high electrical conductivity of copper minimizes penetration of magnetic flux into the cavity walls, which minimizes changes in the sensitivity of the sensors on the 100-ns time scale of the accelerator's power pulse. A model of flux penetration has been developed and is used to correct (to first order) the $B$-dot signals for the penetration that does occur. The two sensors are designed to produce signals with opposite polarities; hence, each current monitor may be regarded as a single detector with differential outputs. Common-mode-noise rejection is achieved by combining these signals in a $50\mathrm{\text{\ensuremath{-}}}\ensuremath{\Omega}$ balun. The signal cables that connect the $B$-dot monitors to the balun are chosen to provide reasonable bandwidth and acceptable levels of Compton drive in the bremsstrahlung field of the accelerator. A single $50\mathrm{\text{\ensuremath{-}}}\ensuremath{\Omega}$ cable transmits the output signal of each balun to a double-wall screen room, where the signals are attenuated, digitized ($0.5\mathrm{\text{\ensuremath{-}}}\mathrm{ns}/\mathrm{sample}$), numerically compensated for cable losses, and numerically integrated. By contrast, each inner-MITL current monitor contains only a single $B$-dot sensor. These monitors are fielded in opposite-polarity pairs. The two signals from a pair are not combined in a balun; they are instead numerically processed for common-mode-noise rejection after digitization. All the current monitors are calibrated on a 76-cm-diameter axisymmetric radial transmission line that is driven by a 10-kA current pulse. The reference current is measured by a current-viewing resistor (CVR). The stack voltage monitors are also differential-output gauges, consisting of one 1.8-cm-diameter $D$-dot sensor and one null sensor. Hence, each voltage monitor is also a differential detector with two output signals, processed as described above. The voltage monitors are calibrated in situ at 1.5 MV on dedicated accelerator shots with a short-circuit load. Faraday's law of induction is used to generate the reference voltage: currents are obtained from calibrated outer-MITL $B$-dot monitors, and inductances from the system geometry. In this way, both current and voltage measurements are traceable to a single CVR. Dependable and consistent measurements are thus obtained with this system of calibrated diagnostics. On accelerator shots that deliver 22 MA to a low-impedance $z$-pinch load, the peak lineal current densities at the stack, outer-MITL, and inner-MITL monitor locations are 0.5, 1, and $58\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MA}/\mathrm{m}$, respectively. On such shots the peak currents measured at these three locations agree to within 1%.

We have developed a diagnostic system that measures the spectrally integrated (i.e. the total) energy and power radiated by a pulsed blackbody x-ray source. The total-energy-and-power (TEP) diagnostic system is optimized for blackbody temperatures between 50 and 350 eV. The system can view apertured sources that radiate energies and powers as high as 2 MJ and 200 TW, respectively, and has been successfully tested at 0.84 MJ and 73 TW on the $Z$ pulsed-power accelerator. The TEP system consists of two pinhole arrays, two silicon-diode detectors, and two thin-film nickel bolometers. Each of the two pinhole arrays is paired with a single silicon diode. Each array consists of a $38\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}38$ square array of 10-$\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$-diameter pinholes in a 50-$\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$-thick tantalum plate. The arrays achromatically attenuate the x-ray flux by a factor of $\ensuremath{\sim}1800$. The use of such arrays for the attenuation of soft x rays was first proposed by Turner and co-workers [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 656 (1999)]. The attenuated flux from each array illuminates its associated diode; the diode's output current is recorded by a data-acquisition system with 0.6-ns time resolution. The arrays and diodes are located 19 and 24 m from the source, respectively. Because the diodes are designed to have an approximately flat spectral sensitivity, the output current from each diode is proportional to the x-ray power. The nickel bolometers are fielded at a slightly different angle from the array-diode combinations, and view (without pinhole attenuation) the same x-ray source. The bolometers measure the total x-ray energy radiated by the source and---on every shot---provide an in situ calibration of the array-diode combinations. Two array-diode pairs and two bolometers are fielded to reduce random uncertainties. An analytic model (which accounts for pinhole-diffraction effects) of the sensitivity of an array-diode combination is presented.

A combination of a 400 ns, 300 mJ, 640 nm dye laser, and an optical streak camera have been used to demonstrate that time-resolved shadowgrams can be made of the implosion phase of tungsten wire arrays. Initial experiments have shown that mirror lifetime and spatial resolution are issues for this diagnostic technique. Nonetheless, these experiments have provided new information on wire array dynamics; specifically, they show that even with a 0.46 mm wire spacing, the high density regions formed by the wires, are separate until 30 ns into the main drive current. Peak currents of 6.6 MA were obtained 40 ns after the start of the current, while peak radiated powers of 85 TW were measured at 50 ns.

We have demonstrated operation of a 3.35-m-diameter insulator stack at 158 kV/cm with no total-stack flashovers on five consecutive Z-accelerator shots. The stack consisted of five +45/spl deg/-profile 5.715-cm-thick crosslinked-polystyrene (Rexolite-1422) insulator rings, and four anodized-aluminum grading rings shaped to reduce the field at cathode triple junctions. The width of the voltage pulse at 89% of peak was 32 ns. We compare this result to a new empirical flashover relation developed from previous small-insulator experiments conducted with flat unanodized electrodes. The relation predicts a 50% flashover probability for a Rexolite insulator during an applied voltage pulse when E/sub max/e/sup -0.27/d/(t/sub eff/C)/sup 1/10/=224, where E/sub max/ is the peak mean electric field (kV/cm), d is the insulator thickness (cm), t/sub eff/ is the effective pulse width (/spl mu/s), and C is the insulator circumference (cm). We find the Z stack can be operated at a stress at least 19% higher than predicted. This result, together with previous experiments conducted by Vogtlin, suggest anodized electrodes with geometries that reduce the field at both anode and cathode triple junctions would improve the flashover strength of multi-stage insulator stacks.

Summary form only given. The radiation from uniform-fill argon gas puffs on the Saturn accelerator with a 4.5-cm diameter nozzle are compared with that generated from a previously optimized 2.5-cm diameter annular nozzle. The pressure range of the uniform fill spanned 1300 to 2900 Torr and that of the annular nozzle was set to 1650 Torr-the pressure that previously maximized the K-shell radiation yield. B-dot monitors measured current in the MITLs and 4.5 cm upstream of the load. A bolometer and duplicate sets of filtered XRDs and PCDs, spanning the energy range of 200 eV to 6 keV, monitored the temporal characteristics of the radiation. A suite of time-integrated and time-resolved, filtered, fast-framing, X-ray pinhole cameras, and crystal spectrometers monitored the spatial and spectral structure of the radiation. The radial density profile of the initial gas profile was measured on a test stand at NRL using a two-color interferometer.

The authors have designed and tested a 10 nH, 1.5 m radius vacuum section for the Z accelerator. The vacuum section consists of four vacuum flares, four conical 1.3 m radius magnetically-insulated transmission lines (MITLs), a 7.6 cm radius 12-post double-post-hole convolute which connects the four outer MITLs in parallel, and a 5 cm long inner MITL which connects the output of the convolute to a z-pinch load. The authors have demonstrated they can deliver a 100 ns rise-time 20 MA current pulse to the baseline z-pinch load. They can reproduce the peak MITL current to within /spl plusmn/1.6%. Power-flow measurements indicate the vacuum section performs as expected until peak current. Afterward, measurements and simulation results diverge.

The quality of high wire-number z-pinch implosions on Z using a dynamic hohlraum (DH) configuration [Sanford, et al., Phys. Plasmas 9, 3573 (2002)] is significantly affected by the method of holding the wires. The three arrangements discussed here have led to differences in radial and axial x-ray powers of factors of 1.6±0.2 and 1.5±0.2, respectively. An increase in power is accompanied by reductions in rise time and pulse width, and improvements in shot-to-shot reproducibility. Higher powers are produced by fixtures that enable the wires to be maintained taut, which also produce superior current contacts at the electrodes (and in particular at the cathode) prior to implosion. The increased axial power, and decreased variation in power and pulse shape, correlate with decreased wire-plasma material observed at the axial radiation exit holes of the DH.

The first Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator (PBFA-I) has recently completed its operational series of tests. It provided 30 TW into 36 power flow lines terminated in electron beam loads at the accelerator's center. The outputs were 2 MV at 15 MA for a 40 ns pulse which provided 1 MJ of output energy. During the accelerator develcpament, several ways of modifying and reconnecting this modular, few MV output pulsed power were discovered. The data from PBFA-I tests show the flexibility and reliability of pulsed power. This technology base could provide a 100 TW accelerator known as PBFA-II which will be the light ion beam test bed for breakeven experiments for the Department of Energy's Inertial Confinement Fusion Program. Pulsed power technology continues to be flexible and adaptable to a wide variety of basic research problems. It is a cost effective technology for producing large pulsed energy outputs.