Study of X-pinch dynamics using a low current (25 kA) and slower current (400 ns) pulse

Abstract

We report on experiments examining the dynamics of low current (25 kA), long rise-time (400 ns) X-pinches. The experiments used two- and four-wire 5 μm tungsten X-pinches. We discuss coronal plasma dynamics, X-ray emission, cross-point evolution, and axial column dynamics. We show that the pinch dynamics are akin to those in X-pinches driven by 0.1–1 MA and at rise-rates from 0.25 to 10 kA/ns. We observe soft X-rays (∼1–2 keV range) emitted from the cross point in both two-wire and four-wire X-pinches at about peak current. These results show that compact current generators consisting of 2–4 small capacitors in a simple capacitive discharge circuit can produce good quality pinches for applications in Thomson X-ray scattering and backlighting among others.