Substantial increases are reported in the expansion rates of exploding, dense wire cores under conditions simulating the prepulse phase of wire array z-pinch experiments [R. B. Spielman et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 2105 (1998)] using wires with insulating coatings. The insulation apparently allows additional wire heating by delaying the formation of plasma around the wires. Once plasma is formed it terminates significant current flow in the residual wire cores. This effect is demonstrated for 25-μm diameter W and 25-μm diameter Ag wires.
Laser–plasma interaction (LPI) at intensities $10^{15}{-}10^{16}~\text{W}\cdot \text{cm}^{-2}$ is dominated by parametric instabilities which can be responsible for a significant amount of non-collisional absorption and generate large fluxes of high-energy nonthermal electrons. Such a regime is of paramount importance for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and in particular for the shock ignition scheme. In this paper we report on an experiment carried out at the Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS) facility to investigate the extent and time history of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and two-plasmon decay (TPD) instabilities, driven by the interaction of an infrared laser pulse at an intensity ${\sim}1.2\times 10^{16}~\text{W}\cdot \text{cm}^{-2}$ with a ${\sim}100~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ scalelength plasma produced from irradiation of a flat plastic target. The laser pulse duration (300 ps) and the high value of plasma temperature ( ${\sim}4~\text{keV}$ ) expected from hydrodynamic simulations make these results interesting for a deeper understanding of LPI in shock ignition conditions. Experimental results show that absolute TPD/SRS, driven at a quarter of the critical density, and convective SRS, driven at lower plasma densities, are well separated in time, with absolute instabilities driven at early times of interaction and convective backward SRS emerging at the laser peak and persisting all over the tail of the pulse. Side-scattering SRS, driven at low plasma densities, is also clearly observed. Experimental results are compared to fully kinetic large-scale, two-dimensional simulations. Particle-in-cell results, beyond reproducing the framework delineated by the experimental measurements, reveal the importance of filamentation instability in ruling the onset of SRS and stimulated Brillouin scattering instabilities and confirm the crucial role of collisionless absorption in the LPI energy balance.
Results of experimental studies of the Х-pinch since its invention and implementation in 1982 at the Lebedev Physical Institute are presented. The concept of the Х-pinch arose in the course of innovative experiments on studying the generation of hot dense plasma in nanosecond Z-pinches. The main idea was to localize the region occupied by the plasma and stabilize the moment of its formation. This was achieved by using a load in the form of crossed wires. The resulting plasma object turned out to be so interesting that a new scientific direction appeared in plasma physics. At present, studies in this direction are being performed in many laboratories worldwide. The term Х-pinch became conventional, and sections devoted to its study are always present at plasma conferences. Х-pinch is not only a very interesting scientific object, but also a unique source of X-ray emission with extreme parameters. The use of Х-pinches for point-projection X-ray radiography of high-energy-density objects provided many new experimental results. In some cases, the concepts of the processes occurring in matter upon fast energy deposition changed dramatically. The review consists of two parts. The first part briefly outlines the history of creation and studies of Х-pinches, describes the diagnostic techniques and devices developed during these studies, and presents the main results obtained in studying the physical processes occurring in the Х-pinch. The second part is devoted to the results of detailed studies of the Х-pinch hot spot-the region where the highest plasma parameters are achieved and which is a source of X-ray emission with extreme parameters. Some results of Х-pinch simulations are also presented.
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