The NRL frozen deuterium fiber Z‐pinch experiment

Previous experiments at NRL have shown z‐pinches formed from 60 to 125 micron diameter frozen D2 fibers were stable as long as the current was rising. At current peak the pinch went rapidly m=0 unstable and emitted 2.45 MeV neutrons whose total number scaled as I10. The maximum current was 640 kA with a rise time of 130 nsec. A new generator, called ZFX, has been built to increase the current through the pinch to up to 2 MA. In preliminary experiments with ZFX at currents of 450 kA, streak photos again shown the pinch is stable as long as the current is rising, except that the stable period has been extended to 300 nsec. X‐ray pinhole photos also show a straight, uniform pinch. The number of neutrons produced by the pinch when it goes unstable is consistent with the previously observed I10 scaling.