Axial backlighting of two-wire Z-pinch using an X-pinch as an X-ray source

Abstract

The axial backlighting of two-wire Z-pinch using an X-pinch as an X-ray source was conducted on PPG-1, a pulsed power generator with a current of 400 kA in amplitude and 100 ns in pulse width. Its time-resolved axial backlighting images are obtained. In the backlighting images all the physical processes similar to those occurring in the early stage of the wire-array Z-pinch are observed, including the expansion of the high-density wire core surrounded by low-density coronal plasmas, the motion of the coronal plasma toward the axis of the wire-array, and the formation of precursor plasma. The areal mass density of the plasma shown in the backlighting images is calibrated with step-wedge filters. And the time-resolved radial distributions of the areal mass density of the plasma from the two-wire Z-pinch are obtained.