The classical Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) instability develops when a planar shock wave interacts with a corrugated interface between two different fluids. A larger family of so-called RM-like hydrodynamic interfacial instabilities is discussed. All of these feature a perturbation growth at an interface, which is driven mainly by vorticity, either initially deposited at the interface or supplied by external sources. The inertial confinement fusion relevant physical conditions that give rise to the RM-like instabilities range from the early-time phase of conventional ablative laser acceleration to collisions of plasma shells (like components of nested-wire-arrays, double-gas-puff Z-pinch loads, supernovae ejecta and interstellar gas). In the laser ablation case, numerous additional factors are involved: the mass flow through the front, thermal conduction in the corona, and an external perturbation drive (laser imprint), which leads to a full stabilization of perturbation growth. In contrast with the classical RM case, mass perturbations can exhibit decaying oscillations rather than a linear growth. It is shown how the early-time perturbation behavior could be controlled by tailoring the density profile of a laser target or a Z-pinch load, to diminish the total mass perturbation seed for the Rayleigh–Taylor instability development.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of intormation, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department ot Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information 14. ABSTRACT A deuterium gas-puff load imploded by a multi-MA current driver from a large initial diameter could be a powerful source of fusion neutrons, a plasma neutron source. Unlike the beam-target neutrons produced in Z-pinch plasmas in the 1950s and deuterium-fiber experiments in the 1980s, the neutrons generated in deuterium gas-puffs, with current levels achieved in recent experiments on the SNL Z facility, could contain a substantial fraction of thermonuclear origin. For recent deuterium gas-puff shots ont Z, our analytical estimates and I-D and 2-D simulations predict thermal neutron yields -5 x 1013, in fair agreement with the yields measured on Z. It is demonstrated that the hypothesis of a beam-target origin of the observed fusion neutrons implies a very high Z-pinch-driver-to-fast-ions energy transfer efficiency, 5 to 10%, which would make a multi-MA deuterium Z-pinch the most efficient light-ion accelerator. No matter what mechanism is eventually determined to be responsible for generating fusion neutrons in deuterium gas-puff shots on Z, the neutron yield is shown to scale as y~ I_4 where Im is the peak current of the pinch. Theoretical estimates and numerical modeling of deuterium gas-puff implosions demonstrate that the yields of thermonuclear fusion neutrons that can be produced on ZR and the next generation machines are sufficiently high to make Plasma Neutron Sources (PNS) the most powerful, cost-and energy-efficient laboratory sources of 2.5 to 14 MeV fusion neutron, just like Plasma Radiation Sources (PRS) are the most powerful sources of soft and keV x-rays. In particular, the predicted neutron-producing capability of PNS driven by ZR and ZX accelerators, from -6 x 1016 to _ 1 0 18 matches the projected capability of the NIF laser at thermonuclear energy gains of 1 and 20, respectively.
Experiments on the Z accelerator with deuterium gas puff implosions have produced up to 3.9 ϫ 10 13 ͑±20% ͒ neutrons at 2.34 MeV ͑±0.10 MeV͒. Experimentally, the mechanism for generating these neutrons has not been definitively identified through isotropy measurements, but activation diagnostics suggest multiple mechanisms may be responsible. One-, two-, and three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic ͑MHD͒ calculations have indicated that thermonuclear outputs from Z could be expected to be in the ͑0.3-1.0͒ ϫ 10 14 range. X-ray diagnostics of plasma conditions, fielded to look at dopant materials in the deuterium, have shown that the stagnated deuterium plasma achieved electron temperatures of 2.2 keV and ion densities of 2 ϫ 10 20 cm −3 , in agreement with the MHD calculations.
Experiments on the Z accelerator with deuterium gas-puff implosions have produced up to 3.7×1013 (±20%) neutrons at 2.34MeV (±0.10MeV). Although the mechanism for generating these neutrons was not definitively identified, this neutron output is 100 times more than previously observed from neutron-producing experiments at Z. Dopant gases in the deuterium (argon and chlorine) were used to study implosion characteristics and stagnated plasma conditions through x-ray yield measurements and spectroscopy. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) calculations have suggested that the dopants improved the neutron output through better plasma compression, which has been studied in experiments increasing the dopant fraction. Scaling these experiments, and additional MHD calculations, suggest that ∼5×1014 deuterium-deuterium (DD) neutrons could be generated at the 26-MA refurbished Z facility.
A computationally efficient method for transporting radiation in multidimensional plasmas has been developed and evaluated. The basis of this method is a uniform plasma approximation that allows one to utilize existing escape probability techniques that are successfully used in one-dimensional (1D) calculations to approximately solve the multidimensional radiation transport problem. This method is superior to diffusion methods because (1) the probability of escape technique insures that the plasma goes to the correct optically thin and thick limits, (2) the effects of line absorption due to photoexcitations are modeled, and (3) this method uses source functions that are based on a self-consistent nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium calculation, not an ad hoc assumption that the source functions are Planckian. This method is highly efficient because equation of state information from 1D calculations is tabulated as a function of plasma internal energy, ion density, and the line probability of escape from a uniform plasma, and then used in multidimensional calculations. Given the internal energy and ion density, and by calculating the line probability of escape from a zone of the multidimensional plasma, the equation of state, including emissivities and absorption coefficients, of the zone is determined from the table. Total radiative power, K-shell radiative power, total radiative yield, K-shell radiative yield, and plasma density and temperature profiles obtained from 1D Z-pinch calculations employing this method are in good agreement with the same powers, yields, and profiles calculated using a full radiation transport model. This method has been implemented in the 2D plasma radiating imploding source model code [F. L. Cochran et al., Phys. Plasmas 2, 2765 (1995)] to determine the influence of radiation transport in argon Z-pinch experiments performed on the Z machine [R. B. Spielman et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 2105 (1998)] at Sandia National Laboratories.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.