Design of magnetized liner inertial fusion experiments using the Z facility

The magnetized liner inertial fusion concept has been presented as a path toward obtaining substantial thermonuclear fusion yields using the Z accelerator [S. A. Slutz et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)]. We present the first integrated magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the inertial fusion targets, which self-consistently include laser preheating of the fuel, the presence of electrodes, and end loss effects. These numerical simulations provided the design for the first thermonuclear fusion neutron-producing experiments on Z using capabilities that presently exist: peak currents of I-max = 18-20 MA, pre-seeded axial magnetic fields of B-z(0) = 10 T, laser preheat energies of about E-las = 2 kJ delivered in 2 ns, DD fuel, and an aspect ratio 6 solid Be liner imploded to 70 km/s. Specific design details and observables for both near-term and future experiments are discussed, including sensitivity to laser timing and absorbed preheat energy. The initial experiments measured stagnation radii r(stag) < 75 mu m, temperatures around 3 keV, and isotropic neutron yields up to Y-n(DD) = 2 x 10(12), with inferred alpha-particle magnetization parameters around r(stag)/r(L)(alpha) = 1:7 [M. R. Gomez et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. (submitted)]. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.