Measurements of Plasma Liner Parameters and Uniformity at the Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX)

The Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) at LANL studies the formation and properties of supersonic spherically imploding plasma liners, used in the plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion (PJMIF) concept. The present campaign on PLX focuses on assessing recent system upgrades aimed at enabling an improved degree of liner uniformity by means of tuning each individual gun's parameters to account for systematic deviations. Here we provide initial results of various diagnostics over a range of operating conditions and over the entire implosion duration. These diagnostics include spatially resolved visible light spectroscopy to determine electron temperatures, multi-chord interferometry to determine line-integrated electron densities, and fast visible imaging to view both the individual jets' and liner's macroscopic characteristics. Comparisons of these properties will be made with simulations from the smooth particle hydrodynamics code SPFMax to better constrain the liner's overall uniformity and properties.