Mitigation of Atmospheric Nuclear Effects on RF and Optical Communication and Sensor Systems

Alameda Applied Sciences Corporation proposes to develop and test a capillary discharge source of KCl as an alternative to Ar gas puffs for Decade Quad. The innovative feature of such a capillary source is that the initial z-pinch load is highly ionizedand well collimated, as demonstrated earlier with a NaF source on Gamble II and Double-EAGLE (DE). Consequently, the stability and radiation efficiency of the KCl loads might prove to be superior to those of Ar loads. Differences in the quality of gas puffand capillary source implosions may give insight into the importance of the degree and uniformity of preionization in suppressing instabilities that limit the quality of gas-puff implosions. The capillary source will be validated on DE at the 4 MA level,then scaled up to 8 MA levels on Decade Quad. The primary output of Ar z-pinches is from K-shell lines at 3.1 and 3.3 keV. The proposed KCl load consists of K and Cl ions that are nearest neighbors of Ar in Mendeleev's periodic table. The KCl spectrumcontains lines ranging from the Cl He-a line at 2.79 keV to the K H-a line near 3.65 keV, producing a broader spectrum favorable to PRS users.Implosion of the KCl capillary plasma on DE should produce as much K-shell radiation as obtained from Ar gas-puffat the same current. Differences in the quality of gas puff and capillary source implosions may give insight into the importance of the degree and uniformity of preionization in suppressing instabilities that limit the quality of gas-puff implosions.