Z Pulsed Power Facility
Coordinates: 35°02′08″N 106°32′33″W / 35.035451°N 106.542522°W
The Z Pulsed Power Facility, informally known as the Z machine, is the largest high frequency electromagnetic wave generator in the world and is designed to test materials in conditions of extreme temperature and pressure. Since its refurbishment in October 1996 it has been used primarily as an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research facility. Operated by Sandia National Laboratories, it gathers data to aid in computer modeling of nuclear weapons and eventual nuclear fusion pulsed power plants. The Z machine is located at Sandia's main site in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Z machine origins can be traced from the Department of Energy need to replicate in a lab environment the fusion reactions of a thermonuclear bomb, to better understand the physics involved.
Since the 1970s the DoE had been looking into ways to generate electricity from fusion reactions, with continuous reactions such as tokamaks or discrete fusion of small balls of light atoms. Since at the time lasers were far from having the required power, the main approach considered was heavy ion fusion. However major advances such as Q-switching and mode-locking made lasers an option (culminating in the National Ignition Facility) and the Heavy Ion Fusion programs became more or less dormant. In 1985, the review of DoE's program by the National Academies stated "The energy crisis is dormant for the time being". Heavy ion fusion machines were tasked to help military research improve nuclear bombs.
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