Publications

Diagnostic constraints on the amount of cold mass in imploded argon pinches on Z

Apruzese, J.P.; Jones, Brent M.; Giuliani, J.L.; Ouart, N.D.; Thornhill, J.W.; Harvey-Thompson, Adam J.; Ampleford, David A.; Jennings, C.A.; Hansen, Stephanie B.; Moore, N.W.; Lamppa, Derek C.; Coverdale, C.A.; Cuneo, M.E.; Rochau, G.A.

The refurbished Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories has been successfully configured to drive gas-puff Z pinches. A series of experiments using Ar loads produced K-shell yields of 330 ± 9% kJ, with highly reproducible K-shell spectra and power pulses. Using spectroscopic and power data, we are able to constrain the properties of both the cold, non-K-shell radiating mass as well as the hot K-shell component of the pinch plasma. As in previous gas-puff shots on the original version of Z, only about 1/4 to 1/3 of the load mass was heated to temperatures sufficient to produce K-shell x-rays.