Dense Plasma Focus Simulations at LLNL

Dense plasma focus (DPF) Z-pinches are compact pulsed power driven devices with coaxial electrodes. The discharge of a DPF consists of three distinct phases: generation of a plasma sheath, a plasma rail gun phase where the sheath is accelerated down the electrodes, and finally an implosion phase where the plasma stagnates into a z-pinch geometry. During the z-pinch phase, DPFs can produce MeV ion beams, x-rays and neutrons. The MegaJOuLe Neutron Imaging Radiography (MJOLNIR) DPF was brought online at the end of 2018 and was recently upgraded to 2 MJ of stored energy. Kinetic simulations using the code Chicago (C. Thoma, Phys. Plasmas 24, 062707 (2017)) and results from a reduced physics model will be presented for shots from the commissioning campaign of the full bank.