Study of Plasma Liner Formation for Plasma-Jet-Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion (PJMIF) using Interferometry and Fast Imaging

Plasma-jet driven magneto-inertial fusion (PJMIF) is an innovative alternative approach towards the realization of controlled fusion, a hybrid concept combining ideas and methodology from the established approaches of pure magnetic confinement and pure inertial confinement. PJMIF aims to achieve fusion through compression of fusion fuel "target" plasmas via spherically imploding plasma shells, i.e., plasma liners that are formed by merging supersonic plasma jets. In this work, we study formation and uniformity of the plasma liner formed by 36 discrete plasma jets at Plasma Liner Experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) using a 5-chord interferometer and fast imaging. The velocity of each jet is measured using a photodiode array at the gun nozzle and can be fine-tuned by adjusting the inlet gas volume using a gas valve bleed relay.