Experimental modeling on the recyclable magnetically insulated transporting lines aimed at the IFE reactor

Abstract

At the Kurchatov Institute, the series of IFE experiments is carried out on the S-300 high-current generator (3 MA, 100 ns, 0.15 Ohm). In this talk, the experimental results on the S-300 machine are presented, related to the study of operation of co-axial magnetically self-insulated transporting line, by the linear current flow density on the inner electrode surface up to j ≈ 7 MA/cm. The specific parameters of this current-carrying line fairly correspond to those of the Sandia Laboratories’ conceptual project of IFE reactor based on the fast Z-pinch [1]. The near-electrode plasma dynamics and its effect on the current transport were studied. The cathode material effect, as well as that of gases and oil layer absorbed by its surface, on the near-electrode plasma dynamics and the current pulse transport along the short MITL segment ware studied too. With respect to the whole project, our conclusion is quite optimistic, to wit, we have found the idea of Recyclable Transporting Lines being adequate to the IFE reactor requirements.