2020/07/01 by D. B. Sinars, M. A. Sweeney, C. S. Alexander +245 · 3 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Ion-surface interactions and analysis #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Pulsed Power Technology Applications
paper · doi:10.1063/5.0007476
openalex publication_date 2020/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Pulsed power accelerators compress electrical energy in space and time to provide versatile experimental platforms for high energy density and inertial confinement fusion science. The 80-TW “Z” pulsed power facility at Sandia National Laboratories is the largest pulsed power device in the world today. Z discharges up to 22 MJ of energy stored in its capacitor banks into a current pulse that rises in 100 ns and peaks at a current as high as 30 MA in low-inductance cylindrical targets. Considerable progress has been made over the past 15 years in the use of pulsed power as a precision scientific tool. This paper reviews developments at Sandia in inertial confinement fusion, dynamic materials science, x-ray radiation science, and pulsed power engineering, with an emphasis on progress since a previous review of research on Z in Physics of Plasmas in 2005.