Thermonuclear fusion by Z-Θ pinch

Rahman, H. U.; Ney, P.; Wessel, F. J.; Fisher, A.; Rostoker, N.

doi:10.1063/1.38839

Cited by 9 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The next time nuclear fusion reactions in Z-pinches attracted attention was in the late 1980s, when substantial neutron yields were observed from frozen deuterium fiber pinches heated by sub-microsecond long, 1-MA-range current pulses [8][9][10]. These findings at the time gave rise to some new optimism about the prospects of a linear Zpinch as an inertial (rather than magnetic) confinement thermonuclear reactor operating at about the I MA current level [11][12][13]. Again, this did not work out as hoped because the neutrons produced in deuterium fiber pinches turned out to be of beam rather than thermonuclear origin [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Z-pinch plasma neutron sources

et al. 2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Z-pinch plasma neutron sources

et al. 2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The improvements observed for gas mixtures and multi-shell implosions suggests that there is a complex interplay of shock-driven compressional heating, current diffusion, flux compression, and radiation transport at work, for which further analysis will provide deeper insights (Rostoker and Tahsiri 1978;Velikovich et al 1996;Glazyrin et al 1997;. Staging the implosion, to optimize these dynamical processes, is expected to have specific benefits for fusion (Rahman et al 1989(Rahman et al , 1995(Rahman et al , 2004Ney et al 2001). A gas-puff mixture of deuterium and argon was tested recently, with a reported neutron yield of Y ∼3.7-3.9×10 13 (Coverdale et al 2007); modeling suggests that the neutrons are thermonuclear (Coverdale et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High yield fusion in a staged Z-pinch

et al. 2009

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We simulate fusion in a Z-pinch; where the load is a xenon-plasma liner imploding onto a deuteriumtritium plasma target and the driver is a 2 MJ, 17 MA, 95 ns risetime pulser. The implosion system is modeled using the dynamic, 2-1/2 D, radiation-MHD code, MACH2. During implosion a shock forms in the Xe liner, transporting current and energy radially inward. After collision with the DT, a secondary shock forms pre-heating the DT to several hundred eV. Adiabatic compression leads subsequently to a fusion burn, as the target is surrounded by a flux-compressed, intense, azimuthal-magnetic field. The intense-magnetic field confines fusion α-particles, providing an additional source of ion heating that leads to target ignition.The target remains stable up to the time of ignition. Predictions are for a neutron yield of 3.0 × 10 19 and a thermonuclear energy of 84 MJ, that is, 42 times greater than the initial, capacitor-stored energy.

show abstract

“…Experiments (Sethian et al 1987, Hammel and Scudder 1987, Figura et al 1991, Kies et al 1991 on dense Z-pinches have shown that the plasma is stable during the dischargecurrent rise but succumbs to a rapidly growing sausage instability when the current saturates. To overcome the problem, Rahman et al (1989) proposed a staged or hybrid pinch in which an annular Z-pinch plasma implodes onto a trapped axial magnetic field and compresses it to several MG in a rise time much shorter than the Z-pinch current rise time. The fast variation of the trapped magnetic field induces a large current on the surface of a solid DT (deuterium-tritium) fibre near the centre of the device.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of high-density -pinch plasma driven by a spinning gas-puff plasma annulus

Mirza¹,

Yu²,

Ahmad³

1998

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The implosion dynamics of a high-density fibre plasma driven by a spinning Z-pinch is investigated. Spin coupling with the inner fibre plasma is taken into consideration. Numerical results show that the coupling can affect the plasma dynamics and reduce the maximum achievable density and temperature. Thus the large spin needed to prevent the Rayleigh-Taylor instability can adversely affect fusion conditions. For intermediate spin and coupling, high densities and temperatures can be realized for fibres seeded with high-Z impurities.

show abstract

Thermonuclear fusion by Z-Θ pinch

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Z-pinch plasma neutron sources

Z-pinch plasma neutron sources

High yield fusion in a staged Z-pinch

Dynamics of high-density -pinch plasma driven by a spinning gas-puff plasma annulus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About