title: Electrothermal instability mitigation by using thick dielectric coatings on magnetically imploded conductors.
abstract: Recent experiments on Sandia's Z facility have confirmed simulation predictions of dramatically reduced instability growth in solid metallic rods when thick dielectric coatings are used to mitigate density perturbations arising from an electrothermal instability. These results provide further evidence that the inherent surface roughness as a result of target fabrication is not the dominant seed for the growth of magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in liners with carefully machined smooth surfaces, but rather electrothermal instabilities that form early in the electrical current pulse as Joule heating melts and vaporizes the liner surface. These results suggest a new technique for substantially reducing the integral magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth in magnetically driven implosions, such as cylindrical dynamic material experiments and inertial confinement fusion concepts.
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1186, USA.
authors.forename: Kyle J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1186, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Awe
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1186, USA.
authors.forename: Edmund P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1186, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Sinars
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1186, USA.
authors.forename: Ella S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Field
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1186, USA.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Cuneo
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1186, USA.
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.affiliation: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1186, USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.affiliation: General Atomics, San Diego, California 92121, USA.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schroen
authors.affiliation: General Atomics, San Diego, California 92121, USA.
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.affiliation: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nakhleh