Current-scaling of radiated power for 40-mm diameter single wire arrays on Z

Abstract

Summary form only given, as follows. In order to estimate the radiated power that can be expected from the next-generation z-pinch driver such as ZR at 28 MA, current-scaling experiments have been conducted on the 18-MA driver Z. We report on the current scaling of single 40-mm diameter tungsten 240-wire arrays with a fixed 110-ns implosion time. The wire diameter is decreased in proportion to the load current. The load current is reduced by reducing the charge voltage on the Marx banks. On one shot firing only 3 of the 4 levels of the Z machine further reduced the load current. The radiated energy scales as the current squared as expected but the radiated power scales as the current to the 3.5 power due to increased pinch instability at lower current. As the current is reduced the rise-time of the x-ray pulse increases and at the lowest current value of 10.4 MA a shoulder appears on the leading edge of the x-ray pulse. We will report on experiments in February 2002 which will attempt to image the pinch along the axis to determine the nature of the reduced stability at lower currents.