Computer modeling of plasma flow switches

Summary form only given. The Los Alamos Foil Implosion project continues to pursue plasma flow switches (PFS) as the final switching stage between the inductive store and the imploding foil/plasma. Capacitor bank experiments have been carried out at the 6.5 and 10 MA levels, and work is continuing on high explosive generator experiments that will deliver 15 MA peak currents. As series of 1-d and 2-D radiation magnetohydrodynamic calculations have been used to study the physics of plasma flow switches at each of these current levels. The initiation of the array or foil, its assembly on the barrier foil, and the subsequent motion of the assembled switch plasma down the coaxial gun barrel have been calculated. In addition, the authors have studied the effects of perturbations in the plasma at initiation and followed the growth of these instabilities as the plasma is accelerated down the barrel.