In this paper, we analyze theoretically the magneto-Rayleigh–Taylor instability driven by a rotating magnetic field. Slab configurations of finite thickness are treated both with and without using the Wenzel–Kramers–Brillouin approximation. Regardless of the slab thickness, the directional rotation of the driving magnetic field contributes to suppressing these instabilities. The two factors of the finite thickness and directional rotation of the magnetic field cooperate to enhance suppression, with the finite thickness playing a role only when the orientation of the magnetic field is time varying. The suppression becomes stronger as the driving magnetic field rotates faster, and all modes are suppressed, in contrast to the case of a non-rotating magnetic field, for which the vertical mode cannot be suppressed. This implies that the dynamically alternate configuration of a Theta-pinch and a Z-pinch may be applicable to the concept of Theta-Z liner inertial fusion.

Abstract. The Primary Test Stand (PTS) developed at the China Academy of Engineering Physics is a multiterawatt pulsed power driver, which can deliver a ~10 MA, 70 ns rise-time (10%-90%) current to a short circuit load and has important applications in Z-pinch driven inertial confinement fusion and high energy density physics. In this paper, primary results of tungsten wire-array Z-pinch experiments on PTS are presented. The load geometries investigated include 15-mm-tall cylindrical single and nested arrays with diameter ranging from 14.4-26.4 mm, and consisting of 132~276 tungsten wires with 5~10 m in diameter. Multiple diagnostics were fielded to determine the characteristics of x-ray radiations and to obtain self-emitting images of imploding plasmas. X-ray power up to 80 TW with ~3 ns FWMH is achieved by using nested wire arrays. The total x-ray energy exceeds 500 kJ and the peak radiation temperature is about 150 eV. Typical velocity of imploding plasmas goes around 3~5×10 7 cm/s and the radial convergence ratio is between 10 and 20.

We investigated the radiation characteristics and implosion dynamics of low-wire-number cylindrical tungsten wire array Z-pinches on the YANG accelerator with a peak current 0.8-1.1 MA and a rising time ∼ 90 ns. The arrays are made up of (8-32)×5 µm wires 6/10 mm in diameter and 15 mm in height. The highest X-ray power obtained in the experiments was about 0.37 TW with the total radiation energy ∼ 13 kJ and the energy conversion efficiency ∼ 9% (24×5 µm wires, 6 mm in diameter). Most of the X-ray emissions from tungsten Z-pinch plasmas were distributed in the spectral band of 100-600 eV, peaked at 250 and 375 eV. The dominant wavelengths of the wire ablation and the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability were found and analyzed through measuring the time-gated self-emission and laser interferometric images. Through analyzing the implosion trajectories obtained by an optical streak camera, the run-in velocities of the Z-pinch plasmas at the end of the implosion phase were determined to be about (1.3-2.1)×10 7 cm/s.

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