Characterization of a target plasma for MTF

Summary form only given. Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) is an approach to fusion where a preheated and magnetized plasma is adiabatically compressed to fusion conditions. Successful MTF requires a suitable initial target plasma with a magnetic field of at least 5 T in a closed-field-line topology, a density of roughly 10/sup 18/ cm/sup -3/, a temperature of at least 50 eV but preferably closer to 300 eV, and must be free of impurities which would raise radiation losses. Target plasma generation experiments are performed at Los Alamos National Laboratory using the Colt facility; a 0.25 MJ, /spl ap/2.5 /spl mu/s rise-time capacitor bank. The goal of these experiments is to demonstrate plasma conditions meeting the requirements for a MTF initial target plasma. The plasma is produced by driving a z-directed current of 1-2 MA through either a static gas fill or a 200 /spl mu/m diameter frozen gas fiber along the axis./sup 3/ The resulting plasma is contained in a 2 cm radius by 2 cm high cylindrical metal wall. The diagnostics include B-dot probes, framing camera, gated OMA visible spectrometer, time-resolved monochromator, filtered silicon photodiodes, and a plasma-density interferometer. A multipoint Thomson scattering diagnostic is being installed, which will use a pulsed ruby laser which produces 20 J in a 25 ns wide pulse. The viewing optics will collect scattered light from six spatial positions in the plasma. In addition, the background plasma light will be measured both above and below each scattering volume to allow subtraction of this background light from the scattered-light signal. The experimental design and data will be presented.