Simulations of the MJOLNIR Dense Plasma Focus

Dense plasma focus (DPF) Z-pinches are compact pulse power driven devices with coaxial electrodes. The discharge of a DPF consists of three distinct phases: generation of a plasma sheath, a plasma rail gun phase where the sheath is accelerated down the electrodes, and finally an implosion phase where the plasma stagnates into a z-pinch geometry. During the z-pinch phase, DPFs can produce MeV ion beams, x-rays and neutrons. The MegaJOuLe Neutron Imaging Radiography (MJOLNIR) DPF was brought online at the end of 2018 and currently delivers greater than 2 MA to the load. Kinetic simulations using the code Chicago and results from a reduced physics model will be presented for shots from the commissioning campaign. LLNL-ABS-780277

This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) under Contract DE-AC52- 07NA27344 and with support from the Computing Grand Challenge program at LLNL.