Ultradense reproducible Z-pinch suitable for CO2 laser-pellet simulation experiments

Abstract
The design and operating characteristics of a unique reproducible linear, high‐density (≳1019 e−/cm3), low‐temperature (17<Te<30 eV) helium Z‐pinch are presented in this paper. It is shown that the temperature and critical density scale length (70–200 μm) of the pinched plasma are favorable for simulating CO2 laser‐pellet experiments. Focused CO2 laser intensities of 1012 W/cm2 result in v0/vth≃2.8 at the critical layer, where v0 is the quiver velocity of an electron in the laser electric field and vth is the electron thermal velocity