Lahmann, B.; Milanese, L.M.; Han, W.; Gatu Johnson, M.; Séguin, F.H.; Frenje, J.A.; Petrasso, R.D.; Hahn, K.D.; Jones, Brent M.
A compact neutron spectrometer, based on a CH foil for the production of recoil protons and CR-39 detection, is being developed for the measurements of the DD-neutron spectrum at the NIF, OMEGA, and Z facilities. As a CR-39 detector will be used in the spectrometer, the principal sources of background are neutron-induced tracks and intrinsic tracks (defects in the CR-39). To reject the background to the required level for measurements of the down-scattered and primary DD-neutron components in the spectrum, the Coincidence Counting Technique (CCT) must be applied to the data. Using a piece of CR-39 exposed to 2.5-MeV protons at the MIT HEDP accelerator facility and DD-neutrons at Z, a significant improvement of a DD-neutron signal-to-background level has been demonstrated for the first time using the CCT. These results are in excellent agreement with previous work applied to DT neutrons.
Double-shell Ar gas puff implosions driven by 16.5 ± 0.5 MA on the Z generator at Sandia National Laboratories are very effective emitters of Ar K-shell radiation (photon energy >3 keV), producing yields of 330 ± 9% kJ [B. Jones et al., Phys. Plasmas 22, 020706 (2015)]. Previous simulations and experiments have reported dramatic increases in K-shell yields when adding an on-axis jet to double shell gas puffs for some configurations. We report on a series of experiments on Z testing Ar gas puff configurations with and without an on-axis jet guided by 3D magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. Adding an on-axis jet was found to significantly improve the performance of some, but not all, configurations. The maximum observed K-shell yield of 375 ± 9% kJ was produced with a configuration that rapidly imploded onto an on-axis jet. A dramatic difference was observed in the plasma conditions at stagnation when a jet was used, producing a narrower stagnation column in experiments with a higher density but relatively lower electron temperature. The MHD simulations accurately reproduce the experimental measurements. The conversion efficiency for electrical energy delivered to the load to K-shell x-rays is estimated to be ∼12.5% for the best-performing configuration, similar to the best results from experiments at smaller facilities.
Radiation-magnetohydrodynamic simulations using the non-local thermodynamic equilibrium Mach2-Tabular Collisional-Radiative Equilibrium code in (r, z) geometry are performed for two pairs of recent Ar gas-puff Z-pinch experiments on the refurbished Z generator with an 8 cm diameter nozzle. One pair of shots had an outer-to-inner shell mass ratio of 1:1.6 and a second pair had a ratio of 1:1. In each pair, one of the shots had a central jet. The experimental trends in the Ar K-shell yield and power are reproduced in the calculations. However, the K-shell yield and power are significantly lower than the other three shots for the case of a double-shell puff of 1:1 mass ratio and no central jet configuration. Further simulations of a hypothetical experiment with the same relative density profile of this configuration, but higher total mass, show that the coupled energy from the generator and the K-shell yield can be increased to levels achieved in the other three configurations, but not the K-shell power. Based on various measures of effective plasma radius, the compression in the 1:1 mass ratio and no central jet case is found to be less because the plasma inside the magnetic piston is hotter and of lower density. Because of the reduced density, and the reduced radiation cooling (which is proportional to the square of the density), the core plasma is hotter. Consequently, for the 1:1 outer-to-inner shell mass ratio, the load mass controls the yield and the center jet controls the power.
Several magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) experiments have been conducted on the Z accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories since late 2013. Measurements of the primary DD (2.45 MeV) neutrons for these experiments suggest that the neutron production is thermonuclear. Primary DD yields up to 3e12 with ion temperatures ∼2-3 keV have been achieved. Measurements of the secondary DT (14 MeV) neutrons indicate that the fuel is significantly magnetized. Measurements of down-scattered neutrons from the beryllium liner suggest ρRliner∼1g/cm2. Neutron bang times, estimated from neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) measurements, coincide with peak x-ray production. Plans to improve and expand the Z neutron diagnostic suite include neutron burn-history diagnostics, increased sensitivity and higher precision nTOF detectors, and neutron recoil-based yield and spectral measurements.
We report on experiments demonstrating the transition from thermally-dominated K-shell line emission to non-thermal, hot-electron-driven inner-shell emission for z pinch plasmas on the Z machine. While x-ray yields from thermal K-shell emission decrease rapidly with increasing atomic number Z, we find that non-thermal emission persists with favorable Z scaling, dominating over thermal emission for Z=42 and higher (hn ≥ 17keV). Initial experiments with Mo (Z=42) and Ag (Z=47) have produced kJ-level emission in the 17-keV and 22-keV Kα lines respectively. We will discuss the electron beam properties that could excite these non - thermal lines. We also report on experiments that have attempted to control non - thermal K - shell line emission by modifying the wire array or load hardware setup.