NRLs’ Nike laser produces up to 3 kJ at 248 nm on target, and was the culmination of simultaneous advancements in pulsed power, the production and control of large area high-energy electron beams, and excimer laser physics. Nike has demonstrated excellent beam smoothing via ISI, the ability to mitigate CBET via focal zooming, the efficient acceleration of targets to high velocity, and the...
The Z machine is a 36-module, multi-megavolt, low impedance driver for high-energy-density physics experiments. In 2007, a major rebuild doubled the stored energy and increased the peak current that could be delivered. The upgraded system can drive 27 MA through dynamic plasma loads with 110 nanosecond time to peak current. The Z pulsed power system is expected to be prepared for a...
The MagLIF (Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion) concept[S.A. Slutz et al. Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303,2010] has produced 3.e12 DD neutrons on the Z-machine [M.R. Gomez et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 155003, 2014]. 2D simulations using the measured fuel preheat,800 J, and drive current, 17 MA, predict 6.e12 DD neutrons. We show that even better agreement is obtained when the effect of electrode...
The National Ignition Facility, the most energetic laser in the world, focuses 192 laser beams on a pea size target inside a vacuum chamber to create temperatures and pressures that exist naturally only in the cores of stars and giant planets. Besides relying on three major pulsed power systems, the NIF facility is the shell for several other pulsed power developments, with applications...
Sandia’s Z Machine can deliver up to 27 MA in ~100 ns to drive high-energy density physics experiments. These parameters are achieved in part via use of four parallel Magnetically Insulated Transmission Lines (MITLs) that reduce overall system inductance. A Double Post-Hole Convolute (DPHC) acts as a current adder to combine the four parallel MITLs into a single transmission line. The DPHC...
A low-current-fusion (LCF) ignition path below 6 MA is hinted by high-gain high-field (HGHF) plasma within tokamak vacuum vessel due to recent successful experiments of magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) [M. R. Gomez et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 155003 (2014)] and earlier experiments of compressed plasma in tokamaks. MIF shares the same principle of magnetic compression and physical process as...
we are planning to build an linear-transformer-driver (LTD) based accelerator for driving wire-array Z-pinch loads. The accelerator comprises six modules in parallel, each of which has eight series 0.8-MA LTD cavities in a voltage-adder configuration. Vacuum transmission lines are used from the interior of the adder to the central vacuum chamber where the load is placed. Thus the traditional...
First Light Fusion Ltd is a privately funded company in the early stages of researching energy generation using inertial confinement fusion. Efforts are currently centred around developing both simulation and experimental capabilities. First Light Fusion (FLF) currently operates a two stage light gas gun which is capable of projectile velocities approaching 8 km/s, and two low inductance...
A modular pulsed-power driver has been developed to create an applied magnetic field for high-intensity laser experiments. The system is presently being using on Sandia’s Z Beamlet Laser facility and was previously used at the Texas Petawatt laser facility at the University of Texas at Austin.. Its design includes use of low inductance circuit elements, a single-turn coil, up to six 3.1 µF...