title: Efficient radiation production in long implosions of structured gas-puff Z pinch loads from large initial radius.
abstract: We have proposed and demonstrated successfully a new approach for generating high-yield K-shell radiation with large-diameter gas-puff Z pinches. The novel load design consists of an outer region plasma that carries the current and couples energy from the driver, an inner region plasma that stabilizes the implosion, and a high-density center jet plasma that radiates. It increased the Ar K-shell yield at 3.46 MA in 200 ns implosions from 12 cm initial diameter by a factor of 2, to 21 kJ, matching the yields obtained earlier on the same accelerator with 100 ns implosions. A new "pusher-stabilizer-radiator" physical model is advanced to explain this result.
authors.affiliation: L-3 Titan Pulse Sciences Division, San Leandro, California, 94577, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sze
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Banister
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Failor
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Velikovich
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lojewski
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sincerny