Analysis of Compact Cylindrical Wire Array Implosions with Brass and also by Alternating Brass and Al wires on the 1-MA COBRA Generator.

Implosions from compact cylindrical wire arrays (CCWA) with mid-Z and low-Z wires were carried out on the 1-MA COBRA generator at Cornell University. In particular, the CCWA used either Brass 310 (70% Cu, 30% Zn) wires or a combination of Brass 310 and Al 5056 (95% Al, 5% Mg) wires arranged in an alternating pattern. A total of 16 wires were used on either a 6 or 4 mm diameter array. The diagnostic suite included a bolometer, fast x-ray detectors, a time-integrated spectrometer, and a streak camera. A higher energy output was observed from bolometer measurements when alternating the brass and Al wires compared to using only the brass wires. This study will focus mainly on the spectroscopy of the brass and alternating brass and Al CCWA by applying the non-LTE kinetic models of Cu and Zn to account for the L-shell radiation. The resulting plasma parameters, electron density and electron temperature, will be discussed and compared for the CCWA with only brass wires and alternating brass and Al wires. The simulations with the novel Wire Ablation Dynamics Model that account for wire ablation will be performed to analyze the differences in implosion dynamics of the uniform and alternating compact cylindrical arrays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]