The atlas high-energy density physics project

Atlas is a pulsed-power facility under development at Los Alamos National L aboratory to drive high-energy density experiments. Atlas will be operation al in the summer of 2000 and is optimized for the study of dynamic material properties, hydrodynamics, and dense plasmas under extreme conditions. Atl as is designed to implode heavy-liner loads in a z-pinch configuration. The peak current of 30 MA is delivered in 4 mus. A typical Atlas liner is a 47 -gram-aluminum cylinder with similar to4-cm radius and 4-cm length. Three t o five MJ of kinetic energy will be delivered to the load. Using composite layers and a variety of interior target designs, a wide variety of experime nts in similar to cm(3) volumes will be performed. Atlas applications, mach ine design, and the status of the project are reviewed.