Electrical discharges illuminate the Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator-II (PBFA-II) pulse-forming section during its successful first system firing on December 11, 1985 at Sandia National Laboratories. The Z Pulsed Power Facility, informally known as the Z machine, is the largest X-ray generator in the world and is designed to test materials in conditions of extreme temperature and pressure. Since its refurbishment in October 1996[1] 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. AKA EBFA/PBFA (Electronic Beam Fusion Accelerator/Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator) (1980).