Analysis of Prepulse in a 500kV/400kA/lOOns Z-Pinch Device

Summary form only given. The Z-pinch device includes a 1.2 MV/1 mus Marx generator, a pulse forming line, a V/N field distortion switch, a transmission line, and a Z-pinch load. The pulse forming line is charged to a voltage of 1 MV with a rise time of about 1 mus. By coupling of interelectrode capacitance of V/N switch, prepulse will be imposed on the Z-pinch load while pulse forming line is being charged. Analyzing the prepulse is crucial to learn the load state before breakdown of V/N switch happened. In this paper, we calculated the prepulse for two Z-pinch loads, which are wire arrays and puffing gas, respectively. Based on the calculations, we can derive whether wire arrays have been vaporized, and this is important for analyzing the development of Z-pinch plasma within the main discharge