Solid spherical and cylindrical shell z-pinches used to compress hot hydrogen working fluid

The authors have used 12 megamp, 5 megajoule axial discharges to electromagnetically implode aluminum shells in tapered spherical and cylindrical geometry, achieving peak implosion velocities above 20 km/sec inner surface, 10 km/sec thickness averaged. They have used these implosions to compress pre-inserted hot hydrogen plasma working fluid with initial pressure above 100 atm and initial temperature above 1 eV. The hot hydrogen plasmas are pre-inserted using 1 megamp, 100 kilojoule range co-axial gun discharges, injected through a circular array of vanes to strip away magnetic field. The working fluid injection was observed with auxiliary experiments, using diagnostically accessible injection chambers similar to the solid liner interior volume. Differences in instability growth, evident on the outer surface of the imploding shell with radiography, were observed for spherical and cylindrical shells, and for implosions with and without working fluid. Comparison of experimental and theoretical results, and interpretation of experimental results will be discussed