K-shell emission trends from 60 to 130cm/s stainless steel implosions

Recent experiments at the 20 MA Z Accelerator have demonstrated, for the first time, implosion velocities up to 110–130 cm/ls in imploding stainless steel wire arrays. These velocities, the largest inferred in a magnetically driven implosion, lead to ion densities of 2 Â 10 20 cm À3 with electron temperatures of $5 keV. These plasma conditions have resulted in significant increases in the K-shell radiated output of 5–10 keV photons, radiating powers of >30 TW and yields >80 kJ, making it the brightest laboratory x-ray source in this spectral region. These values represent a doubling of the peak power and a 30% increase in the yield relative to previous studies. The experiments also included wire arrays with slower implosions, which were observed to have lower temperatures and reduced K-shell output. These colder pinches, however, radiated 260 TW in the soft x-ray region, making them one of the brightest soft x-ray sources available.