Z Pulsed Power Facility

35°02′08″N 106°32′33″W / 35.035451°N 106.542522°W / 35.035451; -106.542522

Overhead view from a fisheye lens of the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratory. Due to the extremely high voltage, the power feeding equipment is submerged in concentric chambers of 2 megalitres (2,000 m³) of transformer oil and 2.3 megalitres (2,300 m³) of deionized water, which act as insulators. Nevertheless, the electromagnetic pulse when the machine is discharged causes impressive lightning, referred to as a "flashover", which can be seen around many of the metallic objects in the machine.
Z machine cross section
Z machine diagram

The Z Pulsed Power Facility, informally known as the Z machine or Z,[1] is the largest high frequency electromagnetic wave generator in the world and is designed to test materials in conditions of extreme temperature and pressure. It was originally called the PBFA-II and was created in 1985. Since its refurbishment in October 1996[2] it has been used primarily as an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research facility. Operated by Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, it gathers data to aid in computer modeling of nuclear weapons and eventual fusion pulsed power plants.

  1. ^ Stein, Ben (March 2002). "The Con-Artist Physics of "Ocean's Eleven"". APS News. Vol. 11, no. 3. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Sandia National Laboratories - News Releases". Sandia.gov. Archived from the original on 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2015-06-20.