"zfx - a 350 kj, 2ma, z-pinch driver"

ZFX is a new pulse generator designed to drive up to 2 MA into a dense z-pinch formed from a frozen deuterium or D-T fiber. In previous experiments carried out at NRL1, this type of pinch was observed to be stable as long as the current was rising. In those experiments, the current was limited by the 640 kA capability of the POSEIDON2 generator, and the pinch temperature was too low to produce a significant number of thermonuclear reactions. ZFX has been designed to increase the current by a factor of three while maintaining the same 4 kA/nsec rate of rise as POSEIDON. (This relatively slow rate of rise is believed to be a key to the pinch stability.) Simple models3 predict that, provided the stability is maintained for the longer time, a 2 MA pinch formed from frozen D-T should achieve thermonuclear breakeven.