VIRTUAL Thursday, February 18th 2021 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. WEBEX Speaker: Michael Cuneo Senior manager of the Pulsed Power Accelerator Science and Technology group Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque “Pulsed Power Science and Technology at Sandia National Laboratories” Abstract: Pulsed power accelerators compress energy in space and time to create unique, transient states of high energy density matter, or create intense, high energy x-ray or particle beams for radiation effects or material probing. The 80 TW “Z” accelerator is the largest such pulsed power accelerator in the world today and is employed as an engine of discovery for national security applications including HEDP, ICF, radiation effects, and many other topics. These applications were reviewed in two recent colloquia by Thomas Mattsson and Dan Sinars. This talk will provide a high-level overview of pulsed power, how Z creates such high electrical powers and extreme conditions, and a discussion of the key enabling pulsed power technologies. Z compresses energy by more than a factor of 109 in space and 109 in time providing environments that were previously unavailable for laboratory study. The talk will also cover the pulsed power technology Sandia is developing for multiple future missions. We are developing technology for a next generation 40-60 MA HED/ICF driver, for intense x-ray and neutron beams for probing or reactivity, and for advanced multi-MA arbitrary waveform generators such as the Thor driver for advanced materials experiments. We are also leading the Scorpius injector technology maturation and design for the ECSE project. The talk will include a historical perspective of the last 45 years of progress in pulsed power at Sandia, the important mission applications which were enabled, an ICF/HED driver “Moore’s Law”, and a hopeful look forward. Bio: Michael Cuneo is a senior manager and electrical engineer at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cuneo was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2014 for his contributions to inertial confinement fusion with magnetically-driven implosions and electrode cleaning. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 refereed papers, with 18 in the premier physics journal Physical Review Letters. He was manager of Sandia’s Radiation and Fusion Experiments department from 2007 to 2013 and is senior manager of the Pulsed Power Accelerator Science and Technology group. Cuneo received his undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan.