The science, technology, and applications of Terawatt-class pulsed power drivers at Sandia National Laboratories

Abstract

There has been significant progress in the past few years in the development and application of Terawatt-class pulsed power generators. Sandia's flagship is the Z facility, which was recently refurbished to improve its energy, power (∼100 TWe), reliability, and precision. We are now routinely performing one shot per day, obtaining load currents as high as 26 MA to create high magnetic fields (> 1000 Tesla) and pressures (10s of Mbar). In a z-pinch configuration, the magnetic pressure (Lorentz Force) supersonically implodes a plasma created from a cylindrical wire array or liner, which at stagnation generates a plasma with energy densities as high as 10 MJ/cm3 and temperatures exceeding 1 keV at 0.1% of solid density. These plasma implosions can produce over 2 MJ of x-ray energy at powers greater than 200 TW for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF), radiation hydrodynamics, radiation-material interaction, Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE), and astrophysics experiments. In an alternate configuration, the large magnetic pressure is used to directly drive Isentropic Compression Experiments (ICE) to pressures greater than 6 Mbar or accelerate flyer plates to velocities as high as 45 km/s for equation of state experiments at pressures as high as 20 Mbar. This research and development is performed in collaboration with many other research groups from large laboratories and universities around the world. This paper summarizes research performed with Z and more recently with the refurbished Z facility, advances in high-photon-energy radiography, derivative applications of the pulsed power program, and advances in the science of pulsed power that could revolutionize the next-generation facilities.