Experimental study of a gas-puff Z-pinch plasma

Summary Form only given, as follows. A small gas-puff Z-pinch plasma device driven by a capacitor bank (12 mu f, 3.75 kJ) is reported. The current reaches the maximum of 200 kA in about 2.2 mu s. A supersonic (March 4) flow nozzle is used to feed argon into the discharge chamber. The gas density profile, the discharge current, the rate of current rise, the compression process of the Z-pinch plasma, and the variation of X-ray emission with time have been studied and/or measured. The density profile is a hollow gas cylinder with a 30 mm inner diameter, 5-m thickness, and a density of 2-9*10/sup 16//cm. The implosion speed of the plasma sheath increases with decreasing diameter. The maximum compression speed is about 20 cm/ mu s. The minimum diameter of the plasma in the final compression stage is about 1.4 mm. In the period of time from 10 ns to 40 ns after the minimum plasma diameter is reached, an instability (m=0) appears and a hot spot emitting X-rays is formed. The X-ray source has been photographed, and its spectrum, which ranges from 0.15 to 5 keV, has been measured.<>