Biblio

The MagNIF team at LLNL is developing a pulsed power platform to enable magnetized inertial confinement fusion and high energy density experiments at the National Ignition Facility. A pulsed solenoidal driver capable of premagnetizing fusion fuel to 40T is predicted to increase performance of indirect drive implosions. We have written a specialized Python code suite to support the delivery of a practical design optimized for target magnetization and risk mitigation. The code simulates pulsed power in parameterized system designs and converges to high-performance candidates compliant with evolving engineering constraints, such as scale, mass, diagnostic access, mechanical displacement, thermal energy deposition, facility standards, and component-specific failure modes. The physics resolution and associated computational costs of our code are intermediate between those of 0D circuit codes and 3D magnetohydrodynamic codes, to be predictive and support fast, parallel simulations in parameter space. Development of a reduced-order, physics-based target model is driven by high-resolution simulations in ALE3D (an institutional multiphysics code) and multi-diagnostic data from a commissioned pulser platform. Results indicate system performance is sensitive to transient target response, which should include magnetohydrodynamic expansion, resistive heating, nonlinear magnetic diffusion, and phase change. Design optimization results for a conceptual NIF platform are reported.

A new pulse power system is being developed with the goal of generating up to 40T seed magnetic fields for increasing the fusion yield of indirect drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments on the National Ignition Facility. This pulser is located outside of the target chamber and delivers a current pulse to the target through a coaxial cable bundle and custom flex-circuit strip-lines integrated into a cryogenic target positioner. At the target, the current passes through a multi-turn solenoid wrapped around the outside of a hohlraum and is insulated with Kapton coating. A 11.33 uF capacitor, charged up to 40 kV and switched by spark-gap, drives up to 40 kA of current before the coil disassembles. A custom Python design optimization code was written to maximize peak magnetic field strength while balancing competing pulser, load and facility constraints. Additionally, using an institutional multi-physics code, ALE3D, simulations that include coil dynamics such as temperature dependent resistance, coil forces and motion, and magnetic diffusion were conducted for detailed analysis of target coils. First experiments are reported as well as comparisons with current modelling efforts.