A synchronized X-pinch driver

Abstract

The efficiency of the X-ray point-projection radiography technique has been demonstrated on a terawatt pulse power generator using a detached compact current generator driving an X-pinch load. This technique has been approved in an experiment on the multiwire-array implosion performed at the Angara-5-1 generator with a peak power as high as 6 TW. The advantage of this experiment over earlier experiments on terawatt generators is in the use of a separate X-pinch driver, which makes it possible to arbitrarily vary the sample probing time. The X-pinch driver is connected to the load unit by means of a flexible low-inductance transmission line. The flexibility of the transmission line is an additional advantage of this technique, since it allows the accuracy of the X-ray radiography system adjustment to be improved and the X-pinch to be located near the plasma load. When compared to the laser method for producing a probe radiation source, the proposed technique features a smaller size, a lower cost of the facility, the absence of high-price optical elements, and a higher efficiency of X-ray generation. Owing to the small size of the synchronized X-pinch driver, it can be transported for use in experiments performed at other research organizations.