Stagnation morphology in Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion experiments

In Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) experiments on the Z facility, an axial current of 15-20 MA is driven through a thick metal cylinder containing axially-magnetized, laser-heated deuterium fuel. The cylinder implodes, further heating the fuel and amplifying the axial B-field. Instabilities, such as magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor, develop on the exterior of the liner and may feed through to the inner surface during the implosion. Monochromatic x-ray emission at stagnation shows the stagnation column is quasi-helical with axial variations in intensity. Recent experiments demonstrated that the stagnation emission structure changed with modifications to the target wall thickness. Additionally, applying a thick dielectric coating to the exterior of the target modified the stagnation column. A new version of the x-ray self-emission diagnostic has been developed to investigate stagnation with higher resolution. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology {\&} Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525