Novel experimental data are reported that reveal helical instability formation on imploding z -pinch liners that are premagnetized with an axial field. Such instabilities differ dramatically from the mostly azimuthally symmetric instabilities that form on unmagnetized liners. The helical structure persists at nearly constant pitch as the liner implodes. This is surprising since, at the liner surface, the azimuthal drive field presumably dwarfs the axial field for all but the earliest stages of the experiment. These fundamentally 3D results provide a unique and challenging test for 3D-magnetohydrodynamics simulations.
The Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability results when a shock wave crosses a rippled interface between two different materials. The shock deposited vorticity causes the ripples to grow into long spikes. Ultimately this process encourages mixing in many warm dense matter and plasma flows of interest. However, generating pure RM instabilities from initially solid targets is difficult because longlived, steady shocks are required. As a result only a few relevant experiments exist, and current theoretical understanding is limited. Here we propose using a flyer-plate driven target to generate RM instabilities with the Z machine. The target consists of a Be impact layer with sinusoidal perturbations and is followed by a low-density carbon foam. Simulation results show that the RM instability grows for 60 ns before release waves reach the perturbation. This long drive time makes Z uniquely suited for generating the high-quality data that is needed by the community.
Magnetic Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) [S. A. Slutz, et al., Phys. Plasmas 17 056303 (2010)] is a promising new concept for achieving >100 kJ of fusion yield on Z. The greatest threat to this concept is the Magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor (MRT) instability. Thus an experimental campaign has been initiated to study MRT growth in fast-imploding (<100 ns) cylindrical liners. The first sets of experiments studied aluminum liner implosions with prescribed sinusoidal perturbations (see talk by D. Sinars). By contrast, this poster presents results from the latest sets of experiments that used unperturbed beryllium (Be) liners. The purpose for using Be is that we are able to radiograph 'through' the liner using the 6-keV photons produced by the Z-Beamlet backlighting system. This has enabled us to obtain time-resolved measurements of the imploding liner's density as a function of both axial and radial location throughout the field of view. This data is allowing us to evaluate the integrity of the inside (fuel-confining) surface of the imploding liner as it approaches stagnation.
We present the preliminary design of a Z experiment intended to observe the growth of several hydrodynamic instabilities (RT, RM, and KH) in a high-energy-density plasma. These experiments rely on the Z-machine's unique ability to launch cm-sized slabs of cold material (known as flyer plates) to velocities of several times 10 km/s. During the proposed experiment, the flyer plate will impact a cm-sized target with an embedded interface that has a prescribed sinusoidal perturbation. The flyer plate will generate a strong shock that propagates into the target and later initiates unstable growth of the perturbation. The goal of the experiment is to observe the perturbation at various stages of its evolution as it transitions from linear to non-linear growth, and finally to a fully turbulent state.
ITS (Integrated Tiger Series) permits a state-of-the-art Monte Carlo solution of linear time-integrated coupled electron/photon radiation transport problems with or without the presence of macroscopic electric and magnetic fields of arbitrary spatial dependence. ITS allows designers to predict product performance in radiation environments.