A thin cut made through a z-pinch by an intense laser beam can become a magnetically insulated diode crossed by an intense ion beam. For larger cuts, the gap is crossed by an intense relativistic electron beam, stopped by magnetic bremsstrahlung resulting in a pointlike intense x-ray source. In either case, the impedance of the pinch discharge is increased, with the power delivered rising in th...

Significant progress has been made on addressing critical issues for inertial fusion energy (IFE) chambers for heavy-ion, laser and Z-pinch drivers. A variety of chamber concepts are being investigated including drywall (currently favored for laser IFE), wetted-wall (applicable to both laser and ion drivers), and thickliquid-wall (favored by heavy ion and z-pinch drivers). Recent progress and r...

A key demonstration on the path to inertial fusion energy is the achievement of high fusion yield !hundreds of MJ" and high target gain. Toward this goal, an indirect-drive high-yield inertial confinement fusion !ICF" target involving two Z-pinch x-ray sources heating a central secondary hohlraum is described by Hammer et al. #Phys. Plasmas 6, 2129 !1999"$. In subsequent research at Sandia Nati...

Introduction: Neutron beams are useful for many applications, from noninvasive imaging and characterization of materials to producing medical isotopes and detecting hidden explosive devices. Some applications require high-energy neutrons created in fusion nuclear reactions between deuterium (D) and tritium (T). To achieve thermal fusion, deuterium or DT plasma must be heated to about 10 8 K, wh...

A capillary plasma z-pinch as an alternative active medium of soft X-Ray lasers was studied experimentally and theoretically. The theoretical analysis was based on the self consistent solution of the so called “snow plow” model. The dynamics of pinched plasma is determined by the capillary parameters and by the time dependence of electrical current passing through it. The current time dependenc...