Spatial and temporal evolution of high-energy density plasmas in the composite pinch on GIT-4 generator

A series of collaborative experiments on complex plasma loads has been carried out on the large inductive energy storage generator GIT-4. The aim of the experiments is to explore the different configurations for the formation of ultrahigh-energy density plasmas in high-voltage pulsed-power systems by direct electromagnetic energy coupling. In this paper, we present some of the underlying philosophy on these experiments and the results obtained. Particular emphasis is placed on the pulsed-power aspects and the effect of source-load coupling for the different studied Z-pinch loads. Resulting radiative properties of the classical exploding wire and liner are experimentally compared with those of the composite pinch scheme in which an intermediate low-density shell is used for staged energy transfer onto a micron-sized wire