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Using Sandia’s new Z facility, shockless compression data were obtained on tantalum to four megabar pressures, completing a high-level milestone with Los Alamos National Laboratory for NNSA’s Science Campaign. This accomplishment required precise current pulse shaping, a new target geometry to obtain higher pressures and more accurate measurements, shielding of optical diagnostics in Z’s harsh environment, and careful characterization of the time-dependent current loss. The federal program manager said the data “are a significant advance over any previous data available within the complex.” (1600) NW, ST&E
In its first year of operations the refurbished Z facility reestablished experimental platforms, made key improvements to specific components, fielded new diagnostics, and conducted mission experiments for NNSA in several program areas. The new Z has better shot-to-shot reproducibility, more precise current shaping (pulse length can be varied by a factor of three), and higher peak currents. The new diagnostics significantly enhance measurements of the accelerator performance and the physics of the high-energy-density plasmas. (1600) NW, ST&E
Wire-array implosions on Z produce an approximately five nanosecond X-ray burst with approximately 200 trillion watt peak power. A three-dimensional computational model of Z-pinch implosions was developed using the radiation magneto hydrodynamics code ALEGRA. It is providing critical insights on scaling of wire-array sources to larger currents for fusion and weapon physics applications. Validation on the massively parallel Red Storm computer proved that the model produces a broad range of measurements when azimuthal asymmetries are included and predicts X-ray power within measurement uncertainties. (1600, 1400) NW, ST&E