Staged Z pinch for controlled fusion

A staged Z pinch is considered in which an annular plasma shell made of a high Z material like Kr implodes onto a coaxial plasma target made of a low Z material like deuterium or a deuterium-tritium mixture. The target plasma could be made either by exploding a cryogenically extruded fiber or by filling the annular shell with a gas puff or a plasma puff. Modeling is performed with a two-dimensional (2D) radiation-MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) code. A parameter study is made to determine the sensitivity of this configuration to initial conditions of the shell and the target plasmas. An axial magnetic field is essential for a stable implosion and efficient energy coupling to the final load. Using a 50-50 mixture of deuterium-tritium as a target plasma, the fusion energy gain is optimized by adjusting the initial parameters. The calculations are based on the parameters of the University of California Irvine Z-pinch facility which has a maximum energy storage of 50 kJ. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.