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Fusion Reactor Materials
Published in C. K. Gupta, Materials in Nuclear Energy Applications, 1989
The Z pinch is among the simplest of concepts for magnetic confinement fusion because the necessary magnetic field would be produced by a current carried in the plasma itself rather than by external coils. The plasma is confined in a torus, and the current is induced by making the plasma essentially a one-turn secondary of a large transformer. A poloidal magnetic field would be produced by the current. A very rapid rise in the primary current would cause the magnetic field to squeeze the plasma, shock-heat it, and provide confinement. The resulting plasma bum would produce an energy pulse. Thus, power applications would have to be based on frequent repetition of the sequence.
Nanometer-Scale and Low-Density Imaging with Extreme Ultraviolet and Soft X-ray Radiation
Published in Klaus D. Sattler, st Century Nanoscience – A Handbook, 2020
In Z-pinch discharge sources, the conductor is a plasma. When the electrical current flows through the plasma, the magnetic field compresses the plasma through the Lorentz force, increasing plasma pressure and its temperature. Those sources are now commercially available [47], i.e. xenon target based, operating with repetitions of a few kHz, and are used for nanoimaging and have possible application in the inspection of EUV masks [48].
Fusion Gain and Triple Product for the Sheared-Flow-Stabilized Z Pinch
Published in Fusion Science and Technology, 2023
U. Shumlak, E. T. Meier, B. J. Levitt
At fusion conditions, the Z pinch has a large azimuthal magnetic field surrounding the plasma column and a large volume separating the plasma from the outer electrode, as shown in Fig. 2. The configuration reduces radial thermal losses such that heat diffusion can be assumed to be negligible, . Since the plasma radius is much smaller than the plasma length, , axial thermal conduction is assumed small. The confinement time is then set by the axial advection through the Z pinch plasma, , as defined in Sec. II. The triple product from Eq. (27) can then be expressed as
Progress Toward a Compact Fusion Reactor Using the Sheared-Flow-Stabilized Z-Pinch
Published in Fusion Science and Technology, 2019
Eleanor G. Forbes, Uri Shumlak, Harry S. McLean, Brian A. Nelson, Elliot L. Claveau, Raymond P. Golingo, Drew P. Higginson, James M. Mitrani, Anton D. Stepanov, Kurt K. Tummel, Tobin R. Weber, Yue Zhang
The Z-pinch is a simple confinement configuration consisting of a cylindrical column of plasma carrying an axial current. The self-generated azimuthal magnetic field compresses and confines the plasma. Z-pinches are an attractive platform for a fusion reactor due to their simplicity; the Z-pinch requires no external magnetic field coils for stability. In addition, the average plasma , the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure, is unity. Z-pinches have been investigated for fusion applications since the 1950s, with initial experiments examining high-current discharges in rarefied gases.1 However, Z-pinches are susceptible to pressure-driven magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability modes that limit their applicability as a fusion source. Perturbations of the pinch result in a local increase in the magnetic field, which gives rise to the “sausage” and “kink” modes that lead to a rapid loss of confinement.
The Limiting Fusion Gain in High-Performance Z-Pinches
Published in Fusion Science and Technology, 2023
Alexei Yu. Chirkov, Semion A. Tokarev
The final stage of compression of the Z-pinch constriction can be accompanied by the development of strong turbulence, which prevents unlimited compression and an increase in the energy density.9 The break of the constriction can be associated with phenomena similar to those that occur during magnetic reconnection in a magnetized laboratory plasma, astrophysical objects, and laser-produced dense plasma. Since such processes in Z-pinches are currently insufficiently studied, we do not consider the stage of constriction breaking. By the moment of constriction breaking, the number of particles in it is small, therefore, from the point of view of the discussed energy balance, their contribution to the thermonuclear yield can be neglected in the first approximation.