Pulsed Power Technology at Sandia National Laboratories

Time-exposure photograph of electrical flashover arcs produced over the surface of the water in the accelerator tank as a byproduct of Z operation. These flashovers are much like strokes of lightning

Pulsed Power Technology (PPT) is used to generate and apply energetic beams and high-power energy pulses. It is distinguished by the development of repetitive pulsed power technologies, x-ray and energetic beam sources, and electromagnetic and radiation hydrodynamic codes for a wide variety of applications.

Some examples of these applications are:

Nuclear survivability and hardness testing
Measurement of material properties
Z-pinch-driven inertial confinement fusion
High energy density physics
Radiation hydrodynamics and radiation science
Interpreting data from x-ray binaries and galactic nuclei

Science of Extreme Environments Research Institute
SEERI is a laboratory critical skill development program to funnel U.S. undergraduate and graduate students into pulsed power and radiation effects research areas.

Programs and Capabilities
Sandia's pulsed power expertise includes experiments, simulation, theory, and engineering design.

Pulsed Power Facilities
Our facilities include the Z accelerator, which produces powerful soft x rays and magnetic fields for research in high energy density physics, the Saturn x-ray source, and the High-Energy Radiation Megavolt Electron Source (HERMES) III for gamma rays.

References for More Information

Other Radiation Facilities
These include the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) and Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF).

Upcoming and Past Conferences

Pulsed Power Technology

PULSED POWER TECHNOLOGY AT SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES