June 1999This is a preprint of a paper intended for publication in a journal or proceedings. Since changes may be made before publication, this preprint is made available with the understanding that it will not be cited or reproduced without the permission of the author. PREPRINTThis paper was prepared for submittal to the DISCLAIMER This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. FXR FAST BEAM IMAGING DIAGNOSTICS AbstractThe Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Flash X-ray (FXR) machine is being upgraded to produce two pulses. A very fast imaging system has been developed to characterize the electron beam diameter and shape. The system consists of a kapton target insertion mechanism and a framing camera. It has a fast gated imaging tube (500 ps) and CCD subsystem to capture and send the image to the control room. The beam diameter data provides insight on mechanisms that effect the x-ray spot size. These colorful beam measurements will be compared with our other diagnostics to form a more complete picture of beam behavior. A demonstration will be described where the image data was used to design a collimator to improve x-ray beam performance.

This paper describes the 1 MA, 225 kJ test facility in operation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The capacitor bank is constructed from three parallel 1.5 mF modules. The modules are capable of switching simultaneously or sequentially via solid dielectric puncture switches. The bank nominally operates up to 10 kV and reaches peak current with all three cabled modules in approximately 30 μs. Parallel output plates from the bank allow for cable or busbar interfacing to the load. This versatile bank is currently in use for code validation experiments, railgun related activities, switch testing, and diagnostic development.

Abstract-LLNL has developed a family of advanced magnetic flux compression generators (FCGs) used to perform high energy density physics experiments and material science studies. In recent years we have performed these experiments at explosive test sites in New Mexico and Nevada. In 2011, we re-established an explosive pulsed power test facility closer to Livermore. LLNL's Site 300 is a U.S. DOE-NNSA experimental test site situated on 7000 acres in rural foothills approximately 15 miles southeast of Livermore. It was established in 1955 as a non-nuclear explosives test facility to support LLNL's national security mission. On this site there are numerous facilities for fabricating, storing, assembling, and testing explosive devices. Site 300 is also home to some of DOE's premier facilities for hydrodynamic testing, with sophisticated diagnostics such as high-speed imaging, flash X-ray radiography, and other advanced diagnostics for performing unique experiments such as shock physics experiments, which examine how materials behave under high pressure and temperature. We have converted and upgraded one particular firing bunker at Site 300 (known as Bunker 851) to provide the necessary infrastructure to support high explosive pulsed power (HEPP) experiments. In doing so, we were able to incorporate our established practices for handling grounding, shielding, and isolation of auxiliary systems and diagnostics, in order to effectively manage the large voltages produced by FCGs, and minimize unwanted coupling to diagnostic data. This paper will discuss some of the key attributes of the Bunker 851 facility, including the specialized firesets and isolated initiation systems for multistage explosive systems, a detonator-switched seed bank that operates while isolated from earth and building ground, a fiber-optic based timing, triggering and control system, an EMI Faraday cage that completely encloses diagnostic sensors, cabling and high-resolution digitizers, optical fiber-based velocimetry and current sensor systems, and a flash X-ray radiography system. The photos and experimental results from recent FCG experiments will also be shown and discussed.

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