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DOE OSTI · 1978946

Using extended MHD to explore lasers as a trigger for x-pinches

Young, J. R.·Adams, M. B.·Hasson, H.·West-Abdallah, I.·Evans, M.·Gourdain, P. -A.
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Abstract

X-pinches have been shown to be a source of extremely intense x-ray emissions useful for diagnosing plasma dynamics and imaging biological objects. The most striking feature of an x-pinch is the hotspot, the point source from where all the x rays come from. Unfortunately, the exact timing and location of the hotspot are still unpredictable. Since an x-pinch hotspot forms from instabilities (like an m = 0 mode), we will computationally explore whether we can use a high-power laser to control the timing and location of these instabilities. Our goal is to reduce the temporal and spatial jitter associated with the x-ray burst. Using an extended MHD (XMHD) code, we explore the non-relativistic instability generation using a current profile of a 250 kA linear transformer driver system and laser characteristics of SLAC's Matter in Extreme Conditions laboratory. Our results include both laser-penetration results using a boundary-defined electromagnetic (EM) wave and instability results from a power-deposition method.

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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICSMaxwell equationselectrodynamicselectromagnetismhigh energy density physicslaser plasma interactionslasersmagnetohydrodynamicsplasma dynamicstransformer

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Young, J. R., Adams, M. B., Hasson, H., West-Abdallah, I., Evans, M., Gourdain, P. -A.. 2021-10-28. Using extended MHD to explore lasers as a trigger for x-pinches. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0060581

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