Generation of Ar K-shell radiation using a hybrid gas puff with an outer plasma shell

Abstract

In our work, we investigated a new type of load, a hybrid gas puff with an outer plasma shell, as a plasma radiation source for efficient production of K-shell radiation at microsecond implosion times. The hybrid load had the following structure: an inner argon jet injected on the axis of the system, an outer deuterium shell formed at a diameter of 80 mm, and an outer plasma shell located at a diameter of 350 mm. The experiments have been carried out on the GIT-12 generator (4.7 MA, 1.7 µs) that operated in a microsecond mode. The experiments showed that the hybrid load is capable to provide a stable Z-pinch compression at implosion times of 750–800 ns. The experimental data on the Ar K-shell radiation yield were compared with the theoretical predictions to estimate the efficiency of a new type of Z-pinch load. The maximum registered Ar K-shell radiation yield was 1.7 kJ/cm that corresponds to the efficiency of the plasma radiation source of almost 70%. Therefore, we consider this type of Z-pinch load as promising and plan to continue our research in this direction.