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| The Z-machine at the Sandia National Laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy |
The Z-machine, the world’s most powerful X-ray generator located at the Sandia National Laboratories in the New Mexico desert, has created hot plasma with a record temperature exceeding 2 billion Kelvin (the temperature at the core of the Sun is 14 million Kelvin). This incredible result, surpassing all expectations, has raised numerous questions among scientists.
The Z-machine is a device with a diameter of 30 meters and a height of 6 meters, capable of generating electrical pulses of 20 million amperes across a “cage” made of tungsten filaments thinner than a hair. The electrical current vaporizes the tungsten, forming rapidly compressed plasma gas in a very strong magnetic field. The plasma gas releases energy in the form of X-rays at extremely high temperatures.
Scientists were surprised to find that by replacing the tungsten filaments with larger cylindrical steel wires, they could achieve temperatures exceeding 1 billion Kelvin. “At first, we didn’t want to believe this. Then we repeated the experiment several times to confirm that it wasn’t a mistake,” said Chris Deeney, the project leader.
This experiment has also raised many questions. Researchers were astonished to observe that extremely high temperatures could be maintained while the plasma ions could lose energy and begin to cool down. They suspect that an unknown factor is providing additional energy to these ions.
Research is ongoing to better understand this phenomenon. Nevertheless, according to scientist Malcolm Haines, achieving such high temperatures is highly beneficial, as it facilitates research on solar eruption phenomena and allows for the construction of smaller and more cost-effective nuclear power plants.
