Toward imploding spherical plasma liner formation via an array of merging supersonic plasma jets

Abstract

Summary form only given. Imploding spherical plasma liners formed by an array of merging supersonic plasma jets are a potential standoff compression driver for magneto-inertial fusion. <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1, 2</sup> From 2009-2012, a multi-institutional collaboration led by LANL pursued an integrated theory/modeling and experimental effort aimed at fielding targetless, spherical-plasma-liner formation experiments via the merging of thirty argon plasma jets, to reach 0.1-1 Mbar of peak stagnation pressure with a total (thirty-jet) initial kinetic energy of ~375 kJ. Specific goals included: (i) developing scaling laws for peak achievable pressures as a function of initial plasma jet parameters; (ii) achieving the plasma gun technology to deliver argon plasma jets with the requisite parameters (n≈10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">17</sup> cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-3</sup> , V≈50 km/s, mass≈8 mg); (iii) experimentally characterizing single-jet propagation and multiple-jet oblique merging; (iv) exploring 3D effects of discrete merging jets; and (v) fielding thirty-jet spherical implosion experiments. The new Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) facility was constructed at LANL for this project, and substantial progress was made <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3-7</sup> on topics (i)-(iv) before the project was terminated. This presentation reviews, for the first time, the project's research accomplishments, and closes with remarks on the concept's readiness to proceed to thirty-jet spherical plasma liner formation experiments.