Scaling of radiation yields of single and double planar wire arrays at the 1MA zebra generator

Summary form only given. Analysis is presented on scaling of radiated x-ray power, energy and implosion timing of single and double planar wire array loads of Al, Cu, Mo, and W with respect to mass, width, and inter-planar spacing at IMA and 100ns current pulse. Such scaling investigations are important for understanding the potential of planar wire arrays as a radiation source. These data are used to identify promising directions to pursue with regard to highest x-ray output, smallest load size, and most consistent shot-to-shot performance. X-ray data were obtained from a Ni bolometer, an array of fast x-ray diodes, time-gated and time-integrated x-ray pinhole cameras, and time-gated and time-integrated x-ray spectrometers. It is shown that double planar wire array radiation yields decrease slowly as the width is decreased, which may allow for more compact loads without significant sacrifice to the output radiation. A mass scan of several W loads show that the implosion timing increases with mass while a width scan of Al loads reveal that implosion timing increases with width. Double planar array scans of inter-planar gaps from 1.5mm to 9mm show an output maximum at 1.5mm with decreasing output for 6mm and 9mm. In addition to raw data analysis, the novel Wire Ablation Dynamics Model is applied to better understand results by identifying how dynamic processes change as a specific parameter is varied and by ´stretching´ the experimental data to reveal useful trends.