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A "z pinch" is a deceptively simple plasma configuration in which a longitudinal current produces a magnetic field that confines the plasma. Z-pinch research is currently one of the fastest growing areas of plasma physics, with revived interest in z-pinch controlled fusion reactors along with investigations of new z-pinch applications, such as very high power x-ray sources, high-energy neutrons sources, and ultra-high magnetic fields generators. This book provides a comprehensive review of the physics of dense z pinches and includes many recent experimental results.
During the past few years techniques have been developed for producing pinches in solid deuterium. The conditions which exist in these plasmas are quiet different from those produced earlier. The pinch is formed from a fiber of solid deuterium rather than from a low density gas, and the current is driven by a low impedance, high voltage pulse generator. Because of the high initial density, it is not necessary to compress the pinch to reach thermonuclear conditions, and the confinement time required for energy production is much shorter than for a gas. The experimental results, which have been verified by experiments performed at higher current were quite surprising and encouraging. The pinch appeared to be stable for a time much longer than the Alfven radial transit time. In this paper, however, I argue that the pinch is not strictly stable, but it does not appear to disassemble in a catastrophic fashion. It appears that there may be a distinction between stability and confinement in the high density pinch. In the discussion below I will present the status of the high density Z-pinch experiments at laboratories around the world, and I will describe some of the calculational and experimental results. I will confine my remarks to recent work on the high density pinch. 17 refs. 10 figs.
The gross properties of a high-density (n approximately equal to 10$sup 27$ m−3), small-radius, (r = 10−4 m) gas-imbedded Z pinch have been examined considering only classical processes. The rate equation using only ohmic heating along with bremsstrahlung and radial heat transport shows that ohmic heating will rapidly take the pinch to thermonuclear temperatures for currents, I, greater than 1 MA. The radial heat loss for the pinch is very small for I greater than 1.5 MA. This suggests that the pinch could tolerate being driven to a nearby wall by an m = 1 kink. The laser technology for initiation of the small-diameter filament and the high-voltage technology for giving a 30-ns rise to a MA or more are available now. Some reactor considerations have been included. (auth).
The fiber-initiated High-Density Z-Pinch (HDZP) is a novel concept in which fusion plasma could be produced by applying 2 MV along a thin filament of frozen deuterium, 20-30 .mu.m in diameter, 5-10 cm long. The megamp-range currents that result would ohmically heat the fiber to fusion temperatures in 100 ns while maintaining nearly constant radius. The plasma pressure would be held stably by the self-magnetic field for many radial sound transit times during the current-rise phase while, in the case of D-T, a significant fraction of the fiber undergoes thermonuclear fusion. This paper presents results of Los Alamos HDZP studies. Existing and new experiments are described. A succession of theoretical studies, including 1D self-similar and numerical studies of the hot plasma phase, 1D and 2D numerical studies of the cold startup phase, and 3D numerical studies of stability in the hot regime, are then presented. 9 refs., 4 figs.
The linear Z pinch is a plasma configuration which in its simplest form requires no auxiliary magnetic field; an axial current carried by the plasma produces an azimuthal confining field and provides ohmic (resistive) or implosion heating. The Lawson criterion (n tau> 102° m−3s) and high temperatures (T> 10 keV) must be simultaneously satisfied in any reactor scheme. Early Z-pinch experiments concentrated on the sub-atmospheric fill pressure regime, with 1019 m−3 n 1023 m−3 and a corresponding confinement time constraint of 101 s tau 10−4 s. In addition, these studies involved plasmas formed at the surface of an insulating wall; the plasmas were subsequently pinched inward by the radial j x B force. Following the implosion phase, gross MHD instabilities were invariably observed on a time scale short compared to the required confinement time.
Fiber-initiated High Density Z-Pinches at Los Alamos, NRL, and Karlsruhe have shown anomalously good stability. Kink modes are never seen, and sausage modes are at least delayed until late in the discharge. The success of these devices in reaching fusion conditions may depend on maintaining and understanding this anomalous stability. We have developed two numerical methods to study the stability in the regime where fluid theory is valid. While our methods are applicable to all modes, we will describe them only for the m = 0 sausage mode. The appearance of sausage modes late in the discharge and the total absence of kink modes suggest that an understanding of sausage modes is more urgent, and it is also simpler. 14 refs., 8 figs.