High Energy Density Physics Research at Sandia National Laboratories
Ray Leeper, Sandia National Laboratories – New Mexico
This presentation will focus on High Energy Density Physics (HEDP) research opportunities at Sandia National Laboratories. The HEDP areas of research at Sandia include basic science, dynamic materials, radiation physics, and inertial confinement fusion. The major HEDP facilities located at Sandia include the Z pulsed power facility and the Z Beamlet Laser facility. The Z pulsed power facility is capable of producing peak currents of 24 MA in a Z-pinch load at electrical power levels exceeding 60 TW. The Beamlet Laser is one module of the National Ignition Facility and is currently being modified to operate at PW power levels. The paper will introduce these facilities along with recent representative research results that include fundamental astrophysical stellar opacity measurements, equation of state measurements of liquid deuterium, and a new 14TW dynamic hohlraum soft x-ray source. Finally, the presentation will introduce a new 1000 TW pulsed power facility concept that has recently been proposed and published by Sandia researchers.
Abstract Author(s): Ray Leeper