Study of implosion dynamics and radiative mechanisms of planar foil liners in comparison with planar wire arrays at 1.7 MA UNR zebra generator

Abstract

Summary form only given. Planar foil liners are alternative loads to wire arrays at multi-mega ampere generators as well as a promising object for the investigation of the magnetic energy dissipation mechanisms in Z-pinch plasmas. Experimental comparison of implosion dynamics and radiative mechanisms of Al planar foils and single planar wire arrays (SPWAs) of the same width and linear mass was performed for the 0.9-1.6-MA current region. Foils radiate approximately 80-90% of the total yield and power of SPWAs. The non-LTE code was applied to estimate the average electron temperature in Al planar foils that was found to be 20% higher, than that in SPWAs, and the average electron density in foils that was an order of magnitude lower than for SPWAs. Also, the foils are characterized by smaller axial gradient of electron temperature and density than SPWAs. In addition, anisotropic emission from Al planar foils was observed to be similar to Al SPWAs: the total yield registered orthogonally to the foil plane was 1.3 times higher than that along the plane (compared to 1.5 for SPWAs). The anomalous MHD resistivity consideration suggests that a significant part of foil radiation could be due to formation of strongly-inhomogeneous plasma through instabilities appearing on shadowgraphic images of a symmetric foil as a result of initial sharp edges inhomogeneity. This idea was tested in the recent experiments with modified foils where one edge was initially sharp and the other was folded with smaller initial inhomogeneity. The yield from a foil with a folded edge was 13-15% lower than that with both sharp edges as predicted by MHD modeling. Presented results on radiation from foils suggest them as potentially useful x-ray sources for various HEDP applications due to simpler load foil preparations compared to wire arrays. Preliminary results of the research we started on radiation from double foils in comparison with double planar wire arrays (DPWAs) are also discussed.