An Overview of Pulse Compression and Power Flow in the Upgraded Z Pulsed Power Driver

Abstract

Summary form only given. The Z pulsed power driver at Sandia National Laboratories is used to develop high energy density Z-pinch X-ray sources for inertial confinement fusion research and radiation effects testing, and drive megabar pressures in material samples for equation of state studies. The pulsed power system is in the process of being replaced, improving reliability and increasing energy delivered to the load. The upgraded pulsed power system will deliver more than nine megajoules of forward wave energy in the first one hundred nanoseconds of its pulse. The system is comprised of thirty-six nominally identical modules, each producing a 3.3-terawatt pulse in 6Omega water-insulated transmission lines. The peak forward-going voltage is about 5 MV. The pulse rise time is -75 ns; the full width at half maximum is -190 ns. The thirty-six modules are combined in parallel and drive twenty to twenty-five MA into the single load. In such a system, reliable insulation and precise switching are primary concerns. We show key components of the system and results from a test module. We also show performance results from the energy storage, triggering, and pulse-forming systems. We also show the differing constraints of power flow from the 175 kA from each Marx generator, to currents in excess of 24 MA in the final feed to the load.