Publications

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We have conceived a new class of prime-power sources for pulsed-power accelerators: impedance-matched Marx generators (IMGs). The fundamental building block of an IMG is a brick, which consists of two capacitors connected electrically in series with a single switch. An IMG comprises a single stage or several stages distributed axially and connected in series. Each stage is powered by a single brick or several bricks distributed azimuthally within the stage and connected in parallel. The stages of a multistage IMG drive an impedance-matched coaxial transmission line with a conical center conductor. When the stages are triggered sequentially to launch a coherent traveling wave along the coaxial line, the IMG achieves electromagnetic-power amplification by triggered emission of radiation. Hence a multistage IMG is a pulsed-power analogue of a laser. To illustrate the IMG approach to prime power, we have developed conceptual designs of two ten-stage IMGs with LC time constants on the order of 100 ns. One design includes 20 bricks per stage, and delivers a peak electrical power of 1.05 TW to a matched-impedance 1.22-Ω load. The design generates 113 kV per stage and has a maximum energy efficiency of 89%. The other design includes a single brick per stage, delivers 68 GW to a matched-impedance 19-Ω load, generates 113 kV per stage, and has a maximum energy efficiency of 90%. For a given electrical-power-output time history, an IMG is less expensive and slightly more efficient than a linear transformer driver, since an IMG does not use ferromagnetic cores.

The MagLIF (Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion) concept [Slutz et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)] has demonstrated fusion-relevant plasma conditions [Gomez et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 155003 (2014)] on the Z accelerator using external field coils to magnetize the fuel before compression. We present a novel concept (AutoMag), which uses a composite liner with helical conduction paths separated by insulating material to provide fuel magnetization from the early part of the drive current, which by design rises slowly enough to avoid electrical breakdown of the insulators. Once the magnetization field is established, the drive current rises more quickly, which causes the insulators to break down allowing the drive current to follow an axial path and implode the liner in the conventional z-pinch manner. There are two important advantages to AutoMag over external field coils for the operation of MagLIF. Low inductance magnetically insulated power feeds can be used to increase the drive current, and AutoMag does not interfere with diagnostic access. Also, AutoMag enables a pathway to energy applications for MagLIF, since expensive field coils will not be damaged each shot. Finally, it should be possible to generate Field Reversed Configurations (FRC) by using both external field coils and AutoMag in opposite polarities. This would provide a means to studying FRC liner implosions on the 100 ns time scale.

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Magneti zed Liner Inerti al Fusion (MagLIF ) is an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concept that includes a strong magnetic field embedded in the fuel to mitigate thermal conduction loss during the implosion . MagLIF experiments on Sandia's 20 MA Z Machine uses an external Helmholtz - like coil pair for fuel premagnetization . By contrast, t he novel AutoMag concept employs a composite liner (cylindrical tube) with helically oriented conduction paths separated by insulating material to provide axial premagnetization of the fuel . Initially, during a current prepulse that slowly rises to %7E1 MA, current flows helically through the AutoMag liner , and so urces the fuel with an axial field . Next, a rapidly rising main current pulse breaks down the insulation and current in th e liner becomes purely axial. The liner and premagnetized fuel are then compressed by the rapidly growing azimuthal field external to t he liner. This integrated axial - field - production mechanism offers a few potential advantages when compared to the externa l premagnetization coils. AutoMag can increase drive current to MagLIF experiments by enabling a lower inductance transmission line , provide higher premagnetization field (>30 T), and greatly increase radial x - ray diagnostic access. 3D electromagnetic si mulations using ANSYS Maxwell have been completed in order to explore the current distributions within the helical conduction paths, the inter - wire dielectric strength properties, and the thermal properties of the helical conduction paths during premagneti zation (%7E1 MA in 100ns). Th ree liner designs , of varying peak field strength, and associated varying risk of dielectric breakdown, will soon be tested in experiments on the %7E 1 MA, 100ns Mykonos facility. Experiments will measure B z (t) inside of the line r and assess failure mechanisms.

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In this study, we have developed a conceptual design of a next-generation pulsed-power accelerator that is optmized for driving megajoule-class dynamic-material-physics experiments at pressures as high as 1 TPa. The design is based on an accelerator architecture that is founded on three concepts: single-stage electrical-pulse compression, impedance matching, and transit-time-isolated drive circuits. Since much of the accelerator is water insulated, we refer to this machine as Neptune. The prime power source of Neptune consists of 600 independent impedance-matched Marx generators. As much as 0.8 MJ and 20 MA can be delivered in a 300-ns pulse to a 16-mΩ physics load; hence Neptune is a megajoule-class 20-MA arbitrary waveform generator. Neptune will allow the international scientific community to conduct dynamic equation-of-state, phase-transition, mechanical-property, and other material-physics experiments with a wide variety of well-defined drive-pressure time histories. Because Neptune can deliver on the order of a megajoule to a load, such experiments can be conducted on centimeter-scale samples at terapascal pressures with time histories as long as 1 μs.

An experiment platform has been designed to study vacuum power flow in magnetically insulated transmission lines (MITLs) the platform is driven by the Mykonos-V LTD accelerator to drive a coaxial MITL with a millimeter-scale anode-cathode gap the experiments conducted quantify the current loss in the MITL with respect to vacuum pumpdown time and vacuum pressure. MITL gaps between 1.0 mm and 1.3 mm were tested the experiment results revealed large differences in performance for the 1.0 and 1.3 mm gaps the 1.0 mm gap resulted in current losses of 40%-60% of the peak current the 1.3 mm gap resulted in current losses of less than 5% of peak current. Classical MITL models that neglect plasma expansion predict that there should be zero current loss, after magnetic insulation is established, for both of these gaps.

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An experiment platform has been designed to study vacuum power flow in magnetically insulated transmission lines (MITLs). The platform was driven by the 400-GW Mykonos-V accelerator. The experiments conducted quantify the current loss in a millimeter-gap MITL with respect to vacuum conditions in the MITL for two different gap distances, 1.0 and 1.3 mm. The current loss for each gap was measured for three different vacuum pump down times. As a ride along experiment, multiple shots were conducted with each set of hardware to determine if there was a conditioning effect to increase current delivery on subsequent shots. The experiment results revealed large differences in performance for the 1.0 and 1.3 mm gaps. The 1.0 mm gap resulted in current loss of 40%-60% of peak current. The 1.3 mm gap resulted in current losses of less than 5% of peak current. Classical MITL models that neglect plasma expansion predict that there should be zero current loss, after magnetic insulation is established, for both of these gaps. The experiments result s indicate that the vacuum pressure or pump down time did not have a significant effect on the measured current loss at vacuum pressures between 1e-4 and 1e-5 Torr. Additionally, there was not repeatable evidence of a conditioning effect that reduced current loss for subsequent full-energy shots on a given set of hardware. It should be noted that the experiments conducted likely did not have large loss contributions due to ion emission from the anode due to the relatively small current densi-ties (25-40 kA/cm) in the MITL that limited the anode temperature rise due to ohmic heating. The results and conclusions from these experiments may have limited applicability to MITLs of high current density (>400 kA/cm) used in the convolute and load region of the Z which experience temperature increases of >400° C and generate ion emission from anode surfaces.

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