Experiments with a plasma-filled rod-pinch diode on the MIG generator

Abstract

Experimental data for creating an X-ray source several millimeters in size on the basis of a plasmafilled rod-pinch diode are reported. Experiments are carried out on the MIG high-current generator. A voltage pulse applied to the diode is sharpened and shortened by injecting plasma into the interelectrode gap up to the plasma-filled diode. Radiation extraction from the vacuum chamber in the paraxial direction is provided by inverting the positions of the cathode and anode using a post-hole vacuum convolute. It is demonstrated that the energy of a low-impedance high-current generator can be deposited with a high efficiency into an electron beam focused on the 1-mm2 tip of the rod-shaped anode. With a tapered tungsten rod 1.5 mm in diameter used as an anode, a pulsed X-ray source about 1 mm in size generating 30-ns-long pulses is obtained. The absorbed dose per pulse measured with a LiF thermoluminescent dosimeter behind a 5-mm-thick aluminum screen 1 m away from the source reaches 0.042 Gy.