Diagnostics of soft X-ray emission from the plasma of a fast capillary discharge

Abstract

Results are presented from time-resolved measurements of the soft X-ray emission in the 10-to 40-eV spectral range from the plasma of a pulsed capillary discharge in argon at current pulse amplitudes of up to 26 kA and a current rise time of ∼1012 A/s. The experiments were carried out with 0.3-cm-diameter 15.7-cm-long ceramic capillaries filled with argon at a pressure of 0.25–0.5 Torr in the SIGNAL electrophysical facility. The experimental data are interpreted via computer simulations of the magnetohydrodynamics and level-by-level ion kinetics of an argon plasma. The results obtained indicate that soft X-ray laser pulses with a photon energy of 26.4 eV and duration of 1–2 ns are generated ≈33 ns after the beginning of the discharge current pulse.