Z pinch driven inertial confinement fusion target physics research at Sandia National Laboratories

Three hohlraum concepts are being pursued at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to investigate the possibility of using pulsed power driven magnetic implosions (Z pinches) to drive targets capable of fusion yields in the range 200-1000 MJ. This research is being conducted on SNL's Z facility, which is capable of driving peak currents of 20 MA in various Z pinch load configurations that produce implosion velocities as high as 7.5 x 107 cm/s, X ray energies of 1-2 MJ and X ray powers of 100-250 TW. The first concept, denoted dynamic hohlraum, has achieved a temperature of 180 ± 14 eV in a configuration suitable for driving capsules. In addition, this concept has also achieved a temperature of 230 ± 18 eV in an arrangement suitable for driving an external hohlraum. The second concept, denoted static walled hohlraum, has achieved temperatures of ∼80-100 eV. Experimental investigation of the third concept, denoted Z pinch driven hohlraum, has recently begun. The article discusses each of these hohlraum concepts and provides an overview of the experiments that have been conducted on these systems to date. (author)