Z‐Pinch Experiments with Styrofoam Fibres and Plasmajets

Z‐pinch plasmas created from fibres are less prone to macroscopic instabilities than predicted by ideal MHD theory. However, solid fibre experiments at the pulseline KALIF (2 MV, 900 kA) gave disappointing results with respect to driver‐load coupling and pinch plasma confinement. High power discharges led to current leaks and plasma expansion presumably due to lacking initial conductivity and compressibility. Therefore two alternative schemes have been investigated: Solid fibres were replaced by styrofoam fibres with about 1 % solid density and plasmajets of a deuterium‐argon mixture. Analyses of the experimental results showed no major differences between styrofoam and solid fibres. However, the plasmajet experiments resulted in significant improvements with respect to the initial discharge behaviour. Unfortunately, severe pinch disruptions about 40 ns after discharge initiation prevented pinch formation and confinement. The high electric field of the pulseline KALIF and the low density of the jet plasma...