Progress in researching the implosion of nested arrays of mixed composition and the generation of soft X-ray power pulse

The results of experiments on the study of plasma compression of nested wire arrays of mixed composition and the generation of powerful pulses of soft X-ray radiation (SXR), carried out on a powerful electrophysical facility Angara-5-1 at a current level of up to 3 MA, are presented. Based on the latest experimental data on the intensity of plasma formation of various substances m& (in μg/(cm2×ns)) [1] and on the features of the dynamics of plasma compression in nested arrays [2], a nested wire array design has been developed which makes it possible to obtain a high peak SXR power in comparison with the known designs of single and nested tungsten wire arrays. During the implosion of nested arrays of mixed composition, consisting of plastic fibers and tungsten wires, shorter and more powerful SXR pulses were obtained with a maximum peak power PSXRmax~10 TW with a FWHM duration of ~5 ns compared to the parameters of SXR pulses upon compression of single tungsten arrays: PSXRmax~5 TW and FWHM~10 ns. Thus, under the conditions of our experiments, we have shown the possibility of a twofold increase in the peak SXR power during compression of nested arrays by optimizing their design.

On ion temperature dependence of symmetric magnetic reconnection

<p>Various simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection reveal that the process is typically fast, with the reconnection rate being of the order of 0.1. Systematic numerical and observational studies of upstream parameters dependence (density, magnetic field) concord the basic Sweet-Parker-like predictions that the dynamical properties scale globally with the Alfven speed, with particle heating scaling as the Alfven speed squared. In this study, we perform a set of symmetric 2D PIC simulations starting from Harris current sheet but differ in upstream background plasma ion temperature. The exhaust velocity in such a setup is known to have explicit temperature dependence, leading to a reduction of the jet velocity at high temperatures. We suggest that the global reconnection rate is controlled by this outflow velocity since the reconnection electric field in the quasi-steady stage is the motional (convective) electric field of the ion bulk flow within the exhaust. Consequently, if the upstream thermal speed is above the Alfven velocity, then the reconnection rate drops. On top of that, the electron-ion temperature partition in the exhaust depends strongly on the upstream ion temperature, which we attribute to the scaling in plasma compression and development of the parallel electrostatic potential in the exhaust. </p>

On the polarization of shear Alfvén and acoustic continuous spectra in toroidal plasmas

In this work, the FALCON code is adopted for illustrating the features of shear Alfvén and sound continuous spectra in toroidal fusion plasmas. The FALCON codes employ the local Floquet analysis discussed in (Phys. Plasmas, vol. 26, issue 8, 2019, 082502) for computing global structures of continuous spectra in general toroidal geometry. As particular applications, reference equilibria for the divertor tokamak test and ASDEX Upgrade plasmas are considered. In particular, we illustrate the importance of mode polarization for recognizing the physical relevance of the various branches of the continuous spectra in the ideal magnetohydrodynamics limit. We also analyse the effect of plasma compression and the validity of the slow sound approximation.

PLASMA DYNAMICS IN ACCELERATOR WITH PLASMA OPENING SWITCH

Plasma propagation in the pulse electron accelerator chamber with a plasma opening switch is investigated. Output beam and X-ray radiation parameters are shown to vary depending on the plasma channel location at the moment of current breaking. Experiments showing plasma compression into channels during the conductive phase of the plasma opening switch operation have been performed.