An Investigation into the Dynamics of Aluminum X-Pinches on the 1 MA Zebra Facility at the University of Nevada at Reno

Summary form only given. The 1 MA Zebra generator has been used to generate plasmas from aluminum wires configured as an X-pinch. X-pinch plasmas are characterized by high-brightness, highly localized emission of >1 keV X-rays. These X-pinch experiments used three different wire types: pure aluminum, an aluminum-magnesium alloy, and pure aluminum coated with magnesium bands. The Mg bands were positioned along the Al wires at the cross-over point of the wires, on the cathode side of the cross-over and on the anode side of the crossover. These bands served to indicate material motion and stagnation along the axis of the plasma, through their emission of He-like and H-like X-rays of Mg. These X-ray spectra were recorded using spatially resolved, time-integrated spectroscopy. A comparison will be presented between the initial location of the Mg bands to the location of the emitting Mg plasma. In addition, plasma parameters of density and temperature will be presented. These quantities were determined by matching the measured spectra to non-LTE models of Al and Mg plasmas. Pinhole camera X-ray images of the stagnated plasma, as well as the spatially resolved spectra will be used to determine the radial and axial extent of the emitting regions. Finally, a comparison illustrating the differences between the X-ray output (>1 keV) of the three different wire types will be presented