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A two-dimensional (2D) Eulerian radiation-magnetohydrodynamic code has been used to successfully simulate hollow metallic z-pinch experiments fielded on several facilities with a wide variety of drive conditions, time scales, and loads. The 2D simulations of these experiments reproduce important quantities of interest including the radiation pulse energy, power, and pulse width. This match is obtained through the use of an initial condition: the amplitude of a random density perturbation imposed on the initial plasma shell. The perturbations seed the development of magnetically driven Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities which greatly affect the dynamics of the implosion and the resulting production of radiation. Analysis of such simulations allows insights into the physical processes by which these calculations reproduce the experimental results. As examples, the insights gained from the simulations of Sandia “Z” accelerator [R. B. Spielman et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 2105 (1998)] experiments have allowed for the investigation of possible physical processes which produce high powers in “nested array” implosions and high temperatures within “dynamic hohlraum” loads. Building on these insights, the 2D code has been used in designing new experiments to optimize the desired physical conditions and in interpreting the experimental results obtained. These examples and others will be discussed as well as examples of simulation results where improvement is needed and what steps are being taken to make that improvement.

JU@ /-72&')(j 0s7/ 'AbstractA z-pinch radiation source has been developed that generates 6W20 lc.1of x-rays with a peak power of 13*4 TW through a 4-mm diameter axial aperture on the Z facility. The source has heated ND? (National Ignition Facility)-scale (6-mm diameter by 7-mm high) hohlraums to 122&6 eV and reduced-scale (4-mm diameter by 4-mm high) hohlraurns to 155*8 eV --providing environments suitable for indirect-drive ICF (Inertial Confinement Fusion) studies.Eulerian-RMHC (radiation-hydrodynamics code) simulations that take into account the development of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the r-z plane provide integrated calculations of the implosion, x-ray generation, and hohlraurn heating, as well as estimates of wall motion and plasma fill within the hohlraums. Lagrangian-RMHC simulations su'ggestthat the addition of a 6 mg/cm3 C~fill in the reduced-scale hohlraum decreases hohlmum inner-wall velocity by -40% with only a 3-5 % decrease in peak temperature, in agreement with measurements.

In the concept of the dynamic hohlraum an imploding Z pinch is optically thick to its own radiation. Radiation may be trapped inside the pinch to give a radiation temperature inside the pinch greater than that outside the pinch. The radiation is typically produced by colliding an outer Z-pinch liner onto an inner liner. The collision generates a strongly radiating shock, and the radiation is trapped by the outer liner. As the implosion continues after the collision, the radiation temperature may continue to increase due to ongoing PdV (pressure times change in volume) work done by the implosion. In principal, the radiation temperature may increase to the point at which the outer liner burns through, becomes optically thin, and no longer traps the radiation. One application of the dynamic hohlraum is to drive an ICF (inertial confinement fusion) pellet with the trapped radiation field. Members of the dynamic hohlraum team at Sandia National Labs have used the pulsed power driver Z (20 MA, 100 ns) to create a dynamic hohlraum with temperature linearly ramping from 100 to 180 eV over 5 ns. On this shot zp214 a nested tungsten wire array of 4 and 2 cm diam with masses of 2 and 1 mg imploded onto a 2.5 mg plastic annulus at 5 mm diam. The current return can on this shot was slotted. It is likely the radiation temperature may be increased to over 200 eV by stabilizing the pinch with a solid current return can. A current return can with nine slots imprints nine filaments onto the imploding pinch. This degrades the optical trapping and the quality of the liner collision. A 1.6 mm diam capsule situated inside this dynamic hohlraum of zp214 would see 15 kJ of radiation impinging on its surface before the pinch itself collapses to a 1.6 mm diam. Dynamic hohlraum shots including pellets were scheduled to take place on Z in September of 1998.

Two-dimensional radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations are presented that demonstrate the effects of magnetically driven Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities on the soft x-ray output from Z pinches. Instability models, which reproduce the current drive wave form and match visible framing camera data for instability wavelength and amplitude for implosions on capacitively driven inductive store systems, are used to study the structure of the x-ray output and the spectrum of radiation emitted from the pinch. The results indicate that standard magnetohydrodynamics is capable of reproducing much of the observed data when two-dimensional effects associated with Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities are included.