Portable X-Pinch Driver Development for Dense Plasma Measurements

Abstract

We report on new, portable X-pinch systems presently under development at Imperial College for probing dense plasmas. Presently 3 drivers have been built, each weighing ~50kg, and capable of driving currents >100kA. With a simple X-pinch load ~100mJ of radiation are emitted in ~1ns duration from a spot size of a few microns. The emission spectra depends on wire material, typically with strong emission in the k-lines, along with a broadband continuum stretching to many 10s of KeV. Radiography, X-ray absorption spectrometry and X-ray diffraction diagnostic tests are discussed, along with the first results utilizing X-ray polycapillary lenses with an X-pinches source to increase flux on target and enable large standoff distances.