Production of solid D2 threads for dense <i>Z</i>-pinch plasmas

Abstract

A liquid-He/liquid-N2 cryostat system has been developed to freeze D2 gas and extrude fibers of solid deuterium into a vacuum chamber. Fibers that are 40 μm in diameter and 10 cm long have been successfully and routinely produced. The fibers are observed to remain constant in physical dimensions for several minutes. A fiber will be used as the electrical load for a pulsed power machine in a program investigating the properties of dense, ohmically heated plasmas for controlled thermonuclear fusion.