Design Studies of Magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities on Thin Foils*

Thin foils are not widely used as z-pinch loads currently. However, they might be necessary to achieve the required mass for higher current x-ray sources, and they also offer useful options for x-ray pulse shaping [1]. This paper reports a preliminary design study on the dominant instability, the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability (MRTI). Planar Al foils 400 nm thick will be used, driven by the 1-MA linear transformer driver (LTD), MAIZE, at U of Michigan. Inductance considerations and a planar foil load design are presented along with MRTI theory. Laser diagnostic images of 400 nm Al foil shots on the (U of M) MZP4 accelerator are also presented. [1] T.J. Nash, C. Deeney, G.A. Chandler \textit{et a.l}, Phys. Plasmas 11, L65 (2004).