IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 36, NO.

5, OCTOBER 2008

2759

Quantitative Measurements of Wire Ablation in Tungsten X -pinches at 80 kA

Simon C. Bott, Member, IEEE, David M. Haas, Yossof Eshaq, Utako Ueda, Sergey V. Lebedev, Member, IEEE, Jeremy P. Chittenden, Member, IEEE, James B. A. Palmer, Simon N. Bland, Member, IEEE, Gareth N. Hall, Member, IEEE, David J. Ampleford, Member, IEEE, and Farhat N. Beg, Member, IEEE

AbstractThis paper investigates the ablation of wires in two-wire tungsten X -pinches driven by an 80-kA current over 50 ns. High-resolution imaging using a Nomarski interferometer allows measurements close to the X -pinch cross point, where the ablation are structure is observed to clearly develop during the drive-current rise time. Electron density proles are recovered as a function of both distance normal to the wire and of time. Results compare favorably to the rocket model of wire ablation. In addition, the density contrast over the ablation stream and gap structure is measured and compared to similar measurements made using quantitative radiography on the 1-MA 250-ns MAGPIE generator at Imperial College London, London, U.K. Index TermsPrecursor plasma, wire ablation, X -pinch.

present, the low-density corona is swept to the system axis by the J Bglobal force. The rate at which mass is ablated from the wire cores to replenish the corona is, in general, well approximated by a rocket model, assuming a xed velocity of the ablated material [5] Vabl dm 0 I 2 = dt 4R0 (1)

I. I NTRODUCTION HE UNDERSTANDING of the ablation phase of exploding wire experiments is of fundamental importance to their continued development. In cylindrical wire arrays, this phase comprises up to 80% of the experiment, and the mass redistribution resulting from wire ablation is crucial to the generation of impressive X-ray powers measured from imploding wirearray Z-pinches [1] and, hence, their application to inertial connement fusion research. When a fast-rising current is passed through ne wires, a heterogeneous plasma structure is formed: A cold dense core is surrounded by a low-density hot corona which carries much of the drive current [2][4]. Where a global magnetic eld is
Manuscript received September 30, 2007; revised November 9, 2007. First published October 24, 2008; current version published November 14, 2008. This work was supported by U.S. Department of Energy Junior Faculty Grant DE-FG02-05ER54842. S. C. Bott is with the Center for Energy Research, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA (e-mail: sbott@ucsd.edu). D. M. Haas, Y. Eshaq, U. Ueda, and F. N. Beg are with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 93093 USA (e-mail: fbeg@ucsd.edu; dmhaas@ucsd.edu; yeshaq@ucsd.edu; uueda@ucsd.edu). S. V. Lebedev is with the Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, U.K., and also with Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia (e-mail: S.Lebedev@imperial.ac.uk). J. P. Chittenden, S. N. Bland, and G. N. Hall are with the Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, U.K. (e-mail: J.Chittenden@imperial.ac.uk; SN.Bland@imperial.ac.uk; Gareth.Hall@imperial.ac.uk). J. B. A. Palmer is with the Plasma Physics Department, AWE Plc, Aldermaston RG7 4PR, U.K. (e-mail: James.Palmer@imperial.ac.uk). D. J. Ampleford is with Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-1194 USA (e-mail: DAMPLEF@Sandia.gov). Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TPS.2008.2003964

where Vabl is the xed ablation velocity, dm/dt is the mass ablation rate per unit length, I is the drive current, and R0 is the array radius. The acceleration of material from wires is not axially uniform, however, and all systems with a global eld demonstrate a periodic radial aring structure. This has been observed by both laser imaging and radiography at different current levels for many different experiments, including cylindrical [6], [7] and conical [8] wire arrays and X-pinches [9]. The cause of this structure is currently not clear. A modied m = 0 magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability [10] and an electrothermal instability [11] are two of the several possible candidates, and experimental information is needed to dene both the underlying mechanism and its likely scaling with driver current. In an X-pinch, the global magnetic eld changes along the Z-axis as wire separation increases, and therefore offers an opportunity to study the variation of the ablation rate with this parameter and to determine whether the rocket model provides an adequate description in this case. Measurements of the global ablation rate and are wavelength have been made for conical wire arrays at larger diameters and higher drive currents [8], but this paper is the rst study of these phenomena for X-pinch experiments. It should be noted that laser interferometry has been used previously to study X-pinch evolution, notably in [12], but this work focuses on the quantitative measurement of the ablation structure close to the wire core. Mass ablation rates of X-pinches at 80 kA are then compared to cylindrical wire arrays at the 1-MA MAGPIE facility at Imperial College London. II. E XPERIMENTAL S ETUP The X-pinch pulser at UCSD comprises a Marx bank (4 0.2-F capacitors charged to 50 kV), a coaxial discharge line, a water-lled pulse-forming line, and a self-breaking switch (SF6 at 18 lbf/in2 ). This typically delivers 80 kA to a load with a rise time of 50 ns. The load is formed from two wires of 7.5-m tungsten. These are hung initially parallel between two electrodes, which

0093-3813/$25.00 2008 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif San Diego. Downloaded on November 19, 2008 at 19:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

2760

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 36, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2008

Fig. 2. Sequence of the four interferograms taken during sequential shots at 1849 ns after the current start.

Fig. 1. Schematic of the Nomarski interferometer setup and (inset) beam orientation and interference region relative to the X-pinch image.

are then rotated relative to each other until the wires touch, forming an x shape. For these experiments, the opening angle of the X-pinch (i.e., angle of wires relative to the vertical axis) was 40 . The experimental chamber allows a range of diagnostics to view the X-pinch, including X-ray diodes, X-ray framing cameras, crystal spectrometer, and various laser imaging techniques. Here, we concentrate on the use of laser interferometry to recover electron density proles. The X-pinch is relatively small compared to the laser beam diameter (40 mm), and this allows the use of a Nomarski [13] shearing interferometer arrangement. A single beam from a 532-nm Nd:YAG laser with 5-ns pulse duration images the X-pinch and exits the chamber. This is subsequently split using a Wollaston prism with a deviation angle of 2 , as shown in Fig. 1. The resulting interferogram is imaged on a 16-bit chargecoupled-device camera. The large beam size allows the two images of the X-pinch to remain separated, and the reference section is taken from an area outside this image. The global magnetic eld ensures that plasma is accelerated to the axis of the X-pinch, and therefore, this region remains free from background plasma during the experiment. This system is simple to set up, and the proximity of the beam interference point to the detector provides very good beam phase matching and hence excellent fringe contrast. III. T UNGSTEN X -P INCHES AT 80 kA Fig. 2 shows a sequence of interferograms taken at several points during the drive-current rise time in a series of experiments. The electrode gap in these images is 10 mm, and the spatial resolution is better than 20 m. The high resolution of the interferometer images allows magnication of the region close to the X-pinch cross point and analysis of the ablation

Fig. 3. Expansion of X-pinch interferogram (39-ns frame from Fig. 2), showing are structure and (magnied) positions of lineouts for analysis.

ares. The region toward the top of the images (marked Fringe Reference Region) does not show measurable fringe shift relative to the background image in any of the experimental images recorded, and this provides a convenient region of zero electron density from which to measure fringe shift. The magnied section in Fig. 3 shows the location of the ablation ares examined here, along with the position of the lineouts taken. The stream and gap positions are taken as the local maximum and minimum fringe shifts, respectively. These are recorded at several positions along the ablation structure, at 90 to the wire core. For a 532-nm laser, the fringe shift f is related to the areal electron density by ne (cm3 ) dl = 4.2 1017 f. (2)

The minimum sensitivity of the interferometer is approximately one-fourth of a fringe shift (ne dl 1 1017 cm2 ), and the maximum is set by deection of the laser outside the

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif San Diego. Downloaded on November 19, 2008 at 19:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

BOTT et al.: QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENTS OF WIRE ABLATION IN TUNGSTEN X-PINCHES AT 80 kA

2761

Fig. 4.

Electron density lineouts for stream and gap positions from 18 to 49 ns.

collection angle for the optics, which corresponds to ne dl 1019 cm2 . For these experiments, only two wires are present, and therefore, the integrated electron density measured is the result of a single ablation stream or gap. The measured electron density is shown in Fig. 4 as a function of both radial distance along each of the four lineouts shown earlier and of time as the experiment progresses. For each image in the sequence, a starting position (Stream2) is correlated as closely as possible between experiments, and subsequent lineouts are taken at neighboring stream and gap positions. The radial position of the ablation structure was observed to be highly reproducible in these experiments, and the position of Stream2, for example, varied by considerably less than the structure periodicity (average stream-to-stream distance) of 140 m. Initially, measurements along all lineouts are close to the sensitivity limit, and little variation is seen with radius or axial position. At 31 ns, measurements close to the wire core are above the detection threshold, and both stream positions show a noticeably higher electron density than the gap positions. At 39 ns, the density has again increased, and the stream position closer to the global axis (Stream2) shows a greater density than the stream position farther away (Stream1). Both gap positions remain similar to each other and lower than the streams. At 49 ns, the density is again increased, reaching 1.1 1018 cm3 for Stream2 at 0.25 mm from the wire core. As for the 39-ns image, this remains the highest density plot, followed by Stream1, and then the two gap positions. These measured values can be compared to the rocket model of wire ablation by assuming an average ionization state to convert from electron density to ion and, hence, mass density. For these data, we assume that Z = 10 for all spatial positions

and times analyzed. This ionization state is an estimate and indicates a temperature of 15 eV in the ablated plasma for the density range measures. This does not contradict the XUV framing images of the aring structures and therefore can be taken as a reasonable assumption. The ablation velocity is taken as 1.5 105 m s1 [5], and an average of the line-out positions relative to the global axis denes the R0 parameter as 1 mm. The data, in general, lie close to the radial proles estimated using the rocket model. The stream positions lie close to or above the model in many radial positions, while the gaps lie below the model in all cases. This indicates that the rocket model provides a good estimate of the average mass ablation rate for these X-pinch experiments. As shown earlier, the two stream positions show different densities due to their different locations relative to the axis. The last plot (bottom right) in Fig. 5 shows this difference compared to the rocket model for the exact position of the streams, to indicate that a small difference is expected for these locations, and this is similar to that observed. This demonstrates the wide applicability of the momentum balance assumed in the rocket model, using a xed ablation velocity despite the changing J Bglobal force in these experiments.

IV. D ENSITY C ONTRAST OF A BLATION F LARE S TRUCTURE In addition to measuring the radial variation of the ablation structure density, the data provide an indication of the density contrast between stream and gap positions. Such information may provide additional constraints on the possible mechanisms

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif San Diego. Downloaded on November 19, 2008 at 19:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

2762

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 36, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2008

Fig. 5. Comparison of X-pinch mass density proles (assuming that Z = 10) for 3149 ns, and indication of the measured and expected differences in positions stream1 and stream2 from the rocket model (Vabl = 1.5 105 m s1 ).

Fig. 6. Plots showing the variation of stream/gap density ratio with (left) time (0.5 mm from wire core) and (right) distance from wire (time averaged) for 80-kA W X-pinches.

forming the are structure. From the X-pinch experiments described in the previous section, the electron density ratio (e,stream /e,gap ) can be measured. Again, assuming a xed Z, this is equivalent to mass density contrast , and Fig. 6 shows the variation of the density ratio between stream positions and gap positions. The left plot shows that this ratio changes with time, which is measured for Stream1 /Gap2 and Stream2 /Gap2 at 0.5 mm from the wire core. As the mass ablation rate is changing with position, the average of these two values indicates how this ratio changes if the radial position of the streams and gaps were the same (e.g., in a cylindrical wire array), and this is shown as the line on the plot. The ratios obtained vary between 1.2 and 2.0 over the time range investigated, and shows a slow increase with time at 0.5 mm from the wire core. The plot on the right in Fig. 6 shows the time-averaged density contrast as a function of distance from the wire core.

This shows a weak dependence on distance showing a slow increase from 1.5 at 0.25 mm to 2.3 at 0.75 mm (error bars are an indication of the error in the averaging process). The stream/gap density contrast is relatively invariant with both distance from the wire core and of time. This work on X-pinches at UCSD can be compared to cylindrical wire-array experiments carried out at the MAGPIE facility in collaboration with Imperial College London (1 MA and 250-ns rise time). The arrays are comprised of 16 wires of 13-m tungsten on a 16-mm diameter, and X-pinch radiography was used to image the arrays [6] with a temporal resolution of 1 ns and a spatial resolution of 5 m. A stepwedge deposited on the Ti radiation lter provides calibration for the lm exposure for areal densities in the 3 104 - to 3 103 -kg m2 range. At the edge of the array, single edge wires can be imaged, which again provides a measure of the mass ablation structure of an individual wire. In Fig. 7, a radiograph of one

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif San Diego. Downloaded on November 19, 2008 at 19:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

BOTT et al.: QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENTS OF WIRE ABLATION IN TUNGSTEN X-PINCHES AT 80 kA

2763

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank the Target Fabrication Group, AWE Plc, Aldermaston, U.K., for the construction of the W stepwedge used in the MAGPIE experiments. R EFERENCES
[1] C. Deeney, M. R. Douglas, R. B. Spielman, T. J. Nash, D. L. Peterson, P. LEplattenier, G. A. Chandler, J. F. Seamen, and K. W. Struve, Enhancement of X-ray power from a Z pinch using nested-wire arrays, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 81, no. 22, pp. 48834886, Nov. 1998. [2] I. K. Aivazov, V. D. Vikharev, G. S. Volkov, L. B. Nikandrov, V. P. Smirnov, and V. Y. Tsarn, Formation of a plasma precursor due to the collapse of multiwire liners, JETP Lett., vol. 45, p. 28, 1987. [3] R. F. Benjamin, J. S. Pearlman, E. Y. Chu, and J. C. Riordan, Measurements of the dynamics of imploding wire arrays, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 848850, Nov. 1981. [4] S. V. Lebedev, I. H. Mitchell, R. Aliaga-Rossel, S. N. Bland, J. P. Chittenden, A. E. Dangor, and M. G. Haines, Azimuthal structure and global instability in the implosion phase of wire array Z-pinch experiments, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 81, no. 19, pp. 41524155, Nov. 1998. [5] S. V. Lebedev, F. N. Beg, S. N. Bland, J. P. Chittenden, A. E. Dangor, M. G. Haines, K. H. Kwek, S. A. Pikuz, and T. A. Shelkovenko, Effect of discrete wires on the implosion dynamics of wire array Z pinches, Phys. Plasmas, vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 37343747, Aug. 2001. [6] S. V. Lebedev, F. N. Beg, S. N. Bland, J. P. Chittenden, A. E. Dangor, M. G. Haines, S. A. Pikuz, and T. A. Shelkovenko, Effect of core-corona plasma structure on seeding of instabilities in wire array Z pinches, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 98101, Jul. 2000. [7] D. B. Sinars, M. E. Cuneo, B. Jones, C. A. Coverdale, T. J. Nash, M. G. Mazarakis, J. L. Porter, C. Deeney, D. F. Wenger, R. G. Adams, E. P. Yu, D. E. Bliss, and G. S. Sarkisov, Measurements of the mass distribution and instability growth for wire-array Z-pinch implosions driven by 1420 MA, Phys. Plasmas, vol. 12, no. 5, p. 056 303, May 2005. [8] D. J. Ampleford, S. V. Lebedev, S. N. Bland, S. C. Bott, J. P. Chittenden, C. A. Jennings, V. L. Kantsyrev, A. S. Safronova, V. V. Ivanov, D. A. Fedin, P. J. Laca, M. F. Yilmaz, V. Nalajala, I. Shrestha, K. Williamson, G. Osborne, A. Haboub, and A. Ciardi, Dynamics of conical wire array Z-pinch implosions, Phys. Plasmas, vol. 14, no. 10, p. 102 704, Oct. 2007. [9] S. M. Zakharov, G. V. Ivanenkov, A. A. Kolomenskii, S. A. Pikuz, and A. I. Samokhin, Plasma of an exploding multiwire load in the diode of a high-current accelerator, Sov. J. Plasma Phys., vol. 13, p. 115, 1987. [10] C. J. Garasi, D. E. Bliss, T. A. Mehlhorn, B. V. Oliver, A. C. Robinson, and G. S. Sarkisov, Multi-dimensional high energy density physics modeling and simulation of wire array Z-pinch physics, Phys. Plasmas, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 27292737, May 2004. [11] M. G. Haines, A three-dimensional model of wire array instability, ablation, and jetting, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 588592, Apr. 2002. [12] I. H. Mitchell, R. Aliaga-Rossel, R. Saavedra, H. Chuaqui, M. Favre, and E. S. Wyndham, Investigation of the plasma jet formation in Xpinch plasmas using laser interferometry, Phys. Plasmas, vol. 7, no. 12, pp. 51405147, Dec. 2000. [13] R. Benattar, C. Popovics, and R. Sigel, Polarized light interferometer for laser fusion studies, Rev. Sci. Instrum., vol. 50, no. 12, pp. 15831586, Dec. 1979.

Fig. 7. (Right) High-magnication radiograph of the edge wire, (top left) average stream and gap lineout, and (bottom left) variation of stream/gap density ratio with radius.

such wire is shown in high magnication, and the position of streams and gaps is clearly visible. The calibration of the radiograph allows quantitative lineouts to be taken, and averages for the three stream positions (solid lineouts) and gap positions (dashed lineouts) are given. The contrast in density between stream and gap positions is also measurable from these experiments, and this is given as a function of the distance from the wire core [Fig. 7(b)]. The data are somewhat noisy, and the dashed line on the plot indicates how the average value is varying. The ratio of stream /gap again changes by only a small amount ranging from 1.5 close to the wire core to 2.3 at 1.5 mm toward the axis. Both the values and trends are similar to those found for the previous X-pinch experiments. For both experiments, we can calculate both the magnetic eld strength that is local to the wire (Blocal ) and the global eld (Bglobal ). For the X-pinch experiments, a current radius of 100 m around the wire core was assumed, with 40 kA/wire, and ares at 1-mm radius from the global axis. These values give Blocal = 80 T, Bglobal = 16 T, and, therefore, Blocal /Bglobal = 5. For the wire-array experiments, Blocal = 125 T, Bglobal = 25 T, and, again, Blocal /Bglobal = 5. This perhaps suggests that the similarity of the ablation structure is a result of this ratio of the elds and that this is the dominant term in determining the quantitative ablation structure. The fact that the density contrast shows relatively low values is very interesting. If the aring structure is the result of a perturbed m = 0 MHD instability, this contrast may provide information as to what modications occur in global magnetic eld. For a pure m = 0 mode (e.g., in a single wire), the radial density prole outside the necked regions will be zero, as plasma is well conned here, forcing entirely axial mass transport. The aring regions, which result from this transport and subsequent acceleration to the global axis, will contain all the mass ablated from the wire core, and hence, the density contrast would be very large. This is clearly not the case experimentally. Extended investigation of the density contrast in the ablation structure should be carried out to provide insight into these processes as a function of current and material, and this will be the subject of future publications.

Simon C. Bott (M07) received the M.Phys. degree in chemical physics and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Shefeld, Shefeld, U.K. He joined the Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, U.K., in 2003, as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and subsequently joined the Center for Energy Research, University of California, San Diego, in 2006. His research interests include all aspects of wire-array Z-pinch evolution, X-pinches, laboratory astrophysics, and pulsed-power systems.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif San Diego. Downloaded on November 19, 2008 at 19:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

2764

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 36, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2008

David M. Haas is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in pulsed-powerdriven X-pinch plasmas with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego.

James B. A. Palmer received the B.Sc. degree (with honors) in physics and optical science from the University of Reading, Berkshire, U.K., in 1997. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in the Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, U.K. Since 1998, he has been with AWE Plc, where he has been with the Plasma Physics Department since 2000. His research interests include the effects of wire arrays on on-axis targets and X-pinch radiography.

Yossof Eshaq is currently with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, working on pulsed-powerdriven X-pinches. Simon N. Bland (M08) was born in England on September 16, 1974. He received the M.Sci. degree in physics and the Ph.D. degree from the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London, U.K., in 2001, with his Ph.D. dissertation on the Dynamics of Wire Array Z-Pinch Implosions. Since 2001, he has been a Research Associate with the Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London. Over the course of his studies, he has won numerous awards, presented work to the public at science festivals, and coauthored 20 published journal papers.

Utako Ueda is currently with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, working on pulsed-powerdriven X-pinches.

Sergey V. Lebedev (M03) received the M.Sc. degree in physics from Novosibirsk University, Novosibirsk, Russia, in 1978 and the Ph.D. degree in physics from Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk, in 1987. Since 1978, he has been with Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics. From 1995 to 1996, he was a Visiting Scientist with the University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil. Since 1996, he has been with the Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, U.K., where he is currently a Professor of plasma physics. He has authored more than 100 papers published in international journals. His prior research interests include the physics of high-current microsecond relativistic electron beams and their interaction with plasma in pulsed-power technology and in plasma-diagnostic techniques. His current research interests include the dynamics of wire array Z-pinch implosions, pulse shaping of X-ray radiation using nested wire arrays, studies of different processes determining the efciency of pinch radiation production, and laboratory astrophysics through the experimental modeling of supersonic radiatively cooled plasma jets. Dr. Lebedev is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He has served on the Executive Committee of the IEEE Plasma Science and Applications Committee.

Gareth N. Hall (M08) received the Ph.D. degree from Imperial College London, London, U.K. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College. His research interests include X-ray spectroscopy of wire-array plasmas and all aspects of wire-array behavior, particularly the study of novel array congurations such as spherical and coiled arrays.

David J. Ampleford (M06) received the M.Sci. and Ph.D. degrees from Imperial College London, London, U.K., in 2001 and 2005, respectively, with his Ph.D. dissertation on investigating the use of conical wire-array Z-pinches to model protostellar jets. Since 2005, he has been a Postdoctoral Researcher with Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, where his research is centered around the physics of wire-array Z-pinches, specically the dynamics of conical wirearray implosions, and the use of nested wire arrays for X-ray pulse shaping.

Jeremy P. Chittenden (M07) received the B.Sc. degree in physics from the University College London, London, U.K., and the Ph.D. degree in plasma physics from the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. In October 2003, he was a Senior Lecturer with the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine and was promoted to Reader in plasma physics in October 2006. He is currently with the Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London. He has published more than 60 journal papers on Z-pinches, inertial connement, fusion, X-pinch plasmas, X-ray lasers, laboratory astrophysics, multidimensional magnetohydrodynamic modeling, and pulsed-power engineering. His research interests include the use of pulsed-power systems to produce plasmas of extremely high temperatures and densities. Dr. Chittenden was the Chairperson of the 2005 Conference on Dense Z-Pinches held in Oxford, U.K.

Farhat N. Beg (M97) received the Ph.D. degree in plasma physics from Imperial College London, London, U.K., in 1995. From 1996 to 2003, he was a Research Associate with Imperial College before moving to the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, as an Assistant Professor in 2003. In 2007, he was appointed to his current position as Associate Professor. He has authored more than 90 papers published in refereed journals on plasma focus, Z-pinches, short-pulse laser-solid interactions, fast ignition, and X-ray sources. Dr. Beg is the General Chair of International Conference on Plasma Science, which will be held in San Diego in 2009. He was the recipient of the 2008 IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society Early Achievement Award.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif San Diego. Downloaded on November 19, 2008 at 19:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.