U.S.-UK Cooperative Research: Investigation of Dense Z-Pinch and X-Pinch Plasmas Using Time Revolving Optical Diagnostics

该奖项将支持康奈尔大学的David Hammer和英国伦敦帝国理工学院等离子体物理组的Malcolm Haines博士之间的合作研究。提出的项目的目标是进行一系列实验，以确定密集的z-pinch和x-pinch等离子体中详细的时间函数条件。这种等离子体是这样产生的：首先利用亚微秒“脉冲功率”发生器产生的初始部分电流引爆细导线（直径0.0025-0.025厘米），然后用峰值电流产生的磁场将产生的等离子体“挤压”到非常小的直径。这些实验将在帝国理工学院进行，因为那里有一套独特的先进光电诊断仪器，可用于多种脉冲功率设备。利用具有纳秒分辨率的x射线和可见光敏感增强图像转换器“条纹”和“分幅”相机、纳秒脉冲激光器，将有可能获得时间和空间分辨率的z-捏缩和x-捏缩等离子体密度、电离状态、内爆速度以及x射线亮点的位置和持续时间的测量结果。以及各种可见和x射线光谱仪器。该项目的最终目标是提高对密集z-和x-捏等离子体动力学的理解，从而可以自信地评估在x射线光刻、抽运短波激光和控制核聚变方面的应用。该项目将受益于两位研究人员在气体压缩和激光等离子体研究方面的互补专业知识。

This award will support collaborative research between David Hammer, Cornell University, and Dr. Malcolm Haines, Plasma Physics Group, Imperial College, London, England. The objective of the proposed project is to carry out a series of experiments designed to determine conditions in detail as a function of time in dense z-pinch and x-pinch plasmas. Such plasmas are produced by first using the initial portion of the current from submicrosecond "pulsed power" generators to explode fine wires (0.0025-0.025 cm. diameter), and then magnetically "pinching" the resulting plasma to very small diameters with the field produced by the peak current. These experiments will be performed at Imperial College because of the availability there of a unique set of advanced electro-optical diagnostic instruments for use with any of several pulsed power devices. It will be possible to obtain time and space-resolved measurements of z-pinch and x-pinch plasma densities, ionization states, implosion speeds, and locations and durations of x-ray bright spots, using x-ray and visible light-sensitive intensified image converter "streak" and "framing" cameras with nanosecond resolution, nanosecond pulsed lasers, and a variety of visible and x-ray spectroscopic instruments. The ultimate goal of this project is to achieve an improved understanding of the dynamics of dense z- and x-pinch plasmas, so that applications to x-ray lithography, pumping short wavelength lasers and controlled fusion might be confidently evaluated. This project will benefit from the complementary expertise of the two investigators in gas pinches and laser plasma research.