Publications

Effects of mass ablation on the scaling of X-ray power with current in wire-array Z pinches

Lemke, R.W.; Sinars, Daniel S.; Waisman, E.M.; Cuneo, M.E.; Yu, E.P.; Haill, Thomas A.; Hanshaw, Heath L.; Brunner, Thomas A.; Jennings, C.A.; Stygar, William A.; Desjarlais, Michael P.; Mehlhorn, Thomas A.; Porter, J.L.

X-ray production by imploding wire-array Z pinches is studied using radiation magnetohydrodynamics simulation. It is found that the density distribution created by ablating wire material influences both x-ray power production, and how the peak power scales with applied current. For a given array there is an optimum ablation rate that maximizes the peak x-ray power, and produces the strongest scaling of peak power with peak current. This work is consistent with trends in wire-array Z pinch x-ray power scaling experiments on the Z accelerator. © 2009 The American Physical Society.