X pinch source characteristics for X-rays above 10 keV

Summary form only given, as follows. Experiments have been carried out using the XP pulser (470 kA peak current, 100 ns fwhm pulse duration) at Cornell University to investigate the geometric and spectral parameters of the X pinch x-ray source for photon energy E > 10 keV. The X pinch is known to emit sub-ns bursts of x-ray radiation in the 1.5-5 keV energy range from /spl sim/1 micron dense plasma sources. Using a pinhole camera with different filters to image a variety of objects on each pulse has shown that X pinches radiated up to 100 keV, and that the source size and duration of radiation vary with the photon energy range. For example, several mm thick metal objects have been imaged with 30 keV x-rays in a low magnification scheme, and the /spl sim/10 micron scale image resolution implies a source size for this radiation of at most a few tens of microns. This radiation is believed to be due to electron beams accelerated across the minidiode that forms just as an X pinch emits its soft x-ray burst.