How do plasma flow switches scale with current? Issues in the 6 MA to 30 MA regime

Abstract

Point mass calculations are used to model switched implosions on several pulsed power machines. The model includes a lumped circuit representation of the pulsed power source. A simple switching model is used to describe a standard plasma flow switch. Implosion kinetic energies are obtained at a convergence ratio of 20 to 1. Heuristic arguments are used to estimate the plasma temperature at pinch, the total X-ray output and the radiation pulse width. Switched models are presented for Pegasus II, Shiva Star, Procyon and Atlas.