Study of the effect of preliminary wire explosion on X-ray generation during wire array Z-pinch implosion

Abstract

Results are presented from experimental studies and numerical simulations of the effect of preliminary wire explosion on the parameters of X-ray emission generated during wire array Z-pinch implosion. The wire array implosion was driven by a current pulse with an amplitude of 0.5 MA and a rise time of 0.5 μs, while the preliminary wire explosion was produced by a current pulse with an amplitude of 0.5–1 kA per wire, a rise time of 100 ns, and a full width at half maximum of ∼200 ns. The experiments showed that the current prepulse significantly impaired the parameters of X-ray pulses. In particular, along with a decrease in the amplitude and an increase in the duration of the X-ray pulse, its spiky structure became more pronounced. The results of numerical simulations with the use of a one-dimensional radiative MHD code are in good agreement with the parameters of Z-pinch emission in experiments with and without a current prepulse.