Simulating the magnetized liner inertial fusion plasma confinement with smaller-scale experiments

The recently proposed magnetized liner inertial fusion approach to a Z-pinch driven fusion [Slutz et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)] is based on the use of an axial magnetic field to provide plasma thermal insulation from the walls of the imploding liner. The characteristic plasma transport regimes in the proposed approach cover parameter domains that have not been studied yet in either magnetic confinement or inertial confinement experiments. In this article, an analysis is presented of the scalability of the key physical processes that determine the plasma confinement. The dimensionless scaling parameters are identified and conclusion is drawn that the plasma behavior in scaled-down experiments can correctly represent the full-scale plasma, provided these parameters are approximately the same in two systems. This observation is important in that smaller-scale experiments typically have better diagnostic access and more experiments per year are possible.