Scaling pulsed magnetic fusion designs to high yield for Pacific Fusion's demonstration facility

We describe the scaling of designs for pulsed magnetic fusion experiments to Pacific Fusion’s ignition-scale Demonstration System. Pacific Fusion is building a Demonstration System to drive fusion-fueled cylindrical loads to ignition and high target gain (G_T ≈ 10), with the goal of demonstrating facility gain G_F ≥ 1. Initial design work is focused on the MagLIF concept. We show 1D and 2D simulations of MagLIF in the radiation-magnetohydrodynamics code FLASH. Comparisons between FLASH simulations of 15-20 MA MagLIF experiments on the Z facility and published results are used to validate FLASH for fusion target design. We apply similarity scaling^1,2 to predict MagLIF performance at ignition-relevant peak current. Future design directions for MagLIF are discussed in the context of recent experimental results on Z.

1. P.F. Schmit and D.E. Ruiz, Phys. Plasmas 27 062707 (2020).

2. D.E. Ruiz, P.F. Schmit, et al., Phys. Plasmas 30 032708 (2023).