Peak Implosion Power as a Predictor of Plasma Radiation Source K-Shell Performance

Hawk is a current-stiff Z-pinch driver that uses a plasma opening switch to transfer inductively-stored current into the load, and employs a vacuum voltmeter to directly measure the voltage drop across the neon gas-puff Z-pinch. The load-voltage measurements permit calculation of the time-dependent load inductance, as well as the associated power Pimp and energy Eimp in the pinch during the implosion and stagnation phases. For experiments that determine the dependence of neon K-shell yield on the gas-puff density profile at constant load mass, Pimp is found to be a better measure of pinch quality and yield than peak current or implosion energy. For these data, and other data for which the load mass was varied with constant profile shape, Pimp and Eimp are combined with K-shell radiation measurements to provide insights into the physics of the pinch stagnation phase.