Large diameter (45–80mm) nested stainless steel wire arrays at the Z accelerator

Abstract

Experiments have been performed at the Z accelerator to elucidate the effects of initial load diameter on the radiated output of a 7keV wire array x-ray source. Nested wire arrays with initial outer diameters of 45–80mm were fielded, with the masses chosen to maintain a nominally constant coupling to the Z generator. The total radiated output decreased from ∼1.1MJ to <0.5MJ for the largest diameter arrays, while the >1keV and K-shell radiation decreased at both small and large diameters. The >1keV output peaked at ∼340kJ, while the K-shell yield peaked at ∼55kJ. The observed trends in radiated output and stagnated plasma parameters are consistent with a phenomenological K-shell scaling theory, and are reproduced in one-dimensional modeling, although multidimensional effects, such as, growth of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability, are observed in the experiments and appear to impact the stagnated plasma for the larger diameter arrays.