Multi-megajoule inductive storage for particle beam production and plasma implosions

Results of studies of inductive storage for production of high output power pulses for generating intense electron and ion beams and for powering energetic plasma implosions are discussed. Experimental studies at stored energy of up to 3 MJ have provided opening switch techniques required to generate output pulses in the 10 TW range. Analyses of high power puiser circuits, which use homopolar generators for primary energy storage, indicate that the efficiency of power transport from the inductor to the load can be 15–20%.