Early Operation 1996-2006
The key attributes of Sandia’s Z machine are its 18 million amperes which discharge in less than 100 nanoseconds. The array of tungsten wires is called a liner In 1999, Sandia tests the idea of nested wire arrays the second array, out of phase with the fist, compensating the Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities of the first. In 2001, Sandia introduces the Z-Beamlet laser (from surplus equipment of the National Ignition Facility).as a tool to better image the compressing pellet. This confirms the good shaping uniformity of pellets compressed by the Z machine. Sandia announced the fusing of small amounts of deuterium in the Z machine on April 7, 2003.
Besides being used as an X-ray generator, the Z machine propelled small plates at 34 kilometres a second, faster than the 30 kilometres per second that Earth travels in its orbit around the Sun, and three times Earth's escape velocity. It also successfully created a special, hyperdense "hot ice" known as ice VII, by quickly compressing water to pressures of 70,000 to 120,000 atmospheres (7 to 12 GPa).
A good overview of the different missions of the Z machine can be found in the 2002 Trivelpiece committee report which reviewed the pulsed power activites at Sandia.
During this period the power of X-ray produced jumps from 10 to 300TW. In order to target the next milestone of fusion breakeven, another upgrade is then necessary... but not before melting diamond.
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