title: Effects of mass ablation on the scaling of X-ray power with current in wire-array Z pinches.
abstract: X-ray production by imploding wire-array Z pinches is studied using radiation magnetohydrodynamics simulation. It is found that the density distribution created by ablating wire material influences both x-ray power production, and how the peak power scales with applied current. For a given array there is an optimum ablation rate that maximizes the peak x-ray power, and produces the strongest scaling of peak power with peak current. This work is consistent with trends in wire-array Z pinch x-ray power scaling experiments on the Z accelerator.
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA.
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Lemke
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Sinars
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Waisman
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Cuneo
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Haill
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Hanshaw
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Jennings
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Stygar
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Desjarlais
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Mehlhorn
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Porter