Status on the Sphinx Machine Based on the 1 Microsecond LTD Technology

Summary form only given. The SPHINX machine developed at Centre d´Etudes de Gramat is based on the 1 microsecond LTD technology. Before 2006 it operated with 16 branches of 8 LTD stages each and was used for implosion of Z-pinch loads in direct drive mode. At a charging voltage of 50 kV the stored energy was 1 MJ and the level of reliability of the machine allowed for many experiments on 4 MA, 800 ns implosion of nested wire arrays. Parallel to these experiments, improvements on LTD stages have been achieved on test-beds up to 70 kV charging voltage, leading to a new design of LTD stage, named LTD05. The SPHINX machine has been upgraded with 144 such LTD05 stages. Details are given on LTD05 design, on electrical and electrostatic simulations and on experimental results. Several sub-systems modifications or developments are also described: premagnetizing and triggering systems, prepulse current generator for wire-array pre-heating, and a status on improved performance and reliability of the complete SPHINX system is given.