Characterizing the HERMES-III Extended Magnetically Insulated Transmission Line

Modeling and simulation of the HERMES-III extended magnetically insulated transmission line (MITL) terminated by a diode with an annular cathode and a planar anode was performed with an electromagnetic particle-in-cell code, EMPIRE-PIC. Self-limited MITL theory was developed and implemented in order to model select shots in EMPIRE by allowing one to transform an experimental current trace into a voltage waveform that is input into EMPIRE. Simulating shots 11132, 11133, 11134, 11135, 11136, and 11146 in EMPIRE shows good agreement with experimental current traces at several locations along the MITL. New calibrations for the anode current shunts are proposed based on low-power shots fired into a short-circuited diode configuration (short-shots). The new calibrations show improved agreement with simulation results.