High Yield Argon Z‐pinch Results with a Large Diameter Nozzle

We modified our original 12 cm diameter double‐shell gas puff nozzle to include an on‐axis jet with a large diameter throat and an independent plenum to allow a large fraction of the total mass to be contained in the central region (r=0–1.5 cm). By judicious selection of pressures for the jet and the two shells, we were able to double the Argon K‐shell yield from ∼10 kJ to > 20 kJ with a 3.5 MA current drive and implosion time of ∼205 ns, equivalent to the yield produced at 100 ns implosion time, but with half the pulse‐width, for radiated K‐shell power up to 2 TW.The radiation produced by gas originating in each of the three plenums was distinguished by the use of a chlorine tracer introduced sequentially into each plenum. We thereby deduce that 65% of the K‐shell radiation is produced by gas originating in the jet, 30% from gas originating in the inner shell and only 5% from gas originating in the outer shell.The flexibility of the hardware was further exercised by selectively evacuating one of the thre...