Determining the resistance of X-pinch plasma

Abstract

The current and the voltage of an X-pinch were measured. The inductance of the X-pinch was assumed to be a constant and estimated by the calculation of the magnetic field based on the well-known Biot—Savart's Law. The voltage of the inductance was calculated with L · di/dt and subtracted from the measured voltage of the X-pinch. Then, the resistance of the X-pinch was determined and the following results were obtained. At the start of the current flow the resistance of the exploding wires is several tens of Ohms, one order of magnitude, higher than the metallic resistance of the wires at room temperature, and then it falls quickly to about 1 Ω, which reflects the physical processes occurring in the electrically exploding wires, i.e., a current transition from the highly resistive wire core to the highly conductive plasma. It was shown that the inductive contribution to the voltage of the X-pinch is less than the resistive contribution. For the wires we used, the wires' material and diameter have no strong influence on the resistance of the X-pinch, which may be explained by the fact that the current flows through the plasma rather than through the metallic wire itself. As a result, the current is almost equally divided between two parallel X-pinches even though the diameter and material of the wires used for these two X-pinches are significantly different.