Progress with developing a target for magnetized target fusion

Abstract

Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) is an approach to fusion where a preheated and magnetized plasma is adiabatically compressed to fusion conditions.',2 Successful MTF requires a suitable initial target plasma with an embedded magnetic field of at least 5 T in a closed-field-line topology, a density of roughly lo1' ~r n-~, a temperature of at least 50 eV, and must be free of impurities which would raise radiation losses. Target plasma generation experiments are underway at Los Alamos National Laboratory using the Colt facility; a 0.25 MJ, 2-3 ps rise-time capacitor bank. The goal of these experiments is to demonstrate plasma conditions meeting the minimum requirements for a MTF initial target plasma. In the first experiments, a Z-pinch is produced in a 2 cm radius by 2 cm high conducting wall using a static gas-fill of hydrogen or deuterium gas in the range of 0.5 to 2 torr. Thus far, the diagnostics include an array of 12 B-dot probes, framing camera, gated OMA visible spectrometer, time-resolved monochrometer, filtered silicon photodiodes, neutron yield, and plasma-density interferometer. These diagnostics show that a plasma is produced in the containment region that lasts roughly 10 to 20 ps with a maximum plasma density exceeding lo1' ~m-~. The experimental design and data are presented.