Computational evaluation of the laguna foil/plasma implosion experiments*

Abstract : The Laguna foil implosion experiments are part of the Los Alamos foil implosion project, Trailmaster. In the La- guna experiments we are fielding a system that should provide implosion energies of the order of 100 kJ. The Laguna pulse power system consists of a Mark IX helical generator, a 100-nH storage inductor which includes a post-hole convolute design, an explosively-formed fuse opening switch, a surface discharge closing switch, and a vacuum powerflow channel. The imploding plasma is initiated from a 2-cm high, 5-cm radius, 250-nm thick, unbacked aluminum foil. 1 Figure 1 shows a blue print of the Laguna system exclusive of the Mark IX generator.