Commissioning of a Rotated Wire Array Configuration for Improved Diagnostic Access

A new rotated wire array $z$ -pinch configuration has been developed for use in experiments on the Magpie generator at Imperial College London. The wire array is rotated onto its side such that the array axis lies perpendicular to the axis of the pulsed power electrodes. This arrangement provides greatly improved end-on diagnostic access to the array and has a number of potential experimental applications; the design has recently been used to make novel Thomson scattering measurements of ablation flow interactions in tungsten wire arrays. Turning the wire array on its side leads to an uneven distribution of current through the wires due to the variation in the inductance of the current path through each wire. The forces acting on each wire will therefore be imbalanced, leading to uneven ablation of the wire cores. An experimental campaign was carried out to inductively retune the current distribution in the wire array. The results of these experiments are presented along with discussion of potential future experimental applications.