Ion Viscous Heating in a Magnetohydrodynamically Unstable Z Pinch at Over 2×109 Kelvin

M. G. Haines, P. D. LePell, C. A. Coverdale, B. Jones, C. Deeney, and J. P. Apruzese
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 075003 – Published 23 February 2006

Abstract

Pulsed power driven metallic wire-array Z pinches are the most powerful and efficient laboratory x-ray sources. Furthermore, under certain conditions the soft x-ray energy radiated in a 5 ns pulse at stagnation can exceed the estimated kinetic energy of the radial implosion phase by a factor of 3 to 4. A theoretical model is developed here to explain this, allowing the rapid conversion of magnetic energy to a very high ion temperature plasma through the generation of fine scale, fast-growing m=0 interchange MHD instabilities at stagnation. These saturate nonlinearly and provide associated ion viscous heating. Next the ion energy is transferred by equipartition to the electrons and thus to soft x-ray radiation. Recent time-resolved iron spectra at Sandia confirm an ion temperature Ti of over 200 keV (2×109 degrees), as predicted by theory. These are believed to be record temperatures for a magnetically confined plasma.

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  • Received 13 May 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.075003

©2006 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. G. Haines1,*, P. D. LePell2, C. A. Coverdale3, B. Jones3, C. Deeney3, and J. P. Apruzese4

  • 1Physics Department, Imperial College, London SW7 2BW, United Kingdom
  • 2Ktech Corporation, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
  • 3Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
  • 4Plasma Physics Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

  • *Corresponding author. Electronic address: m.haines@imperial.ac.uk

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Vol. 96, Iss. 7 — 24 February 2006

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