Effect of Initial Conditions on Gas-Puff Z-Pinch Dynamics.

This dissertation concerns the effects initial conditions have on the dynamics of an imploded, annular gas-puff z-pinch. The influence of axial magnetic fields, nozzle size and composition, different gases, pre-ionization, and electrode design on pinch quality and x-ray yield is investigated. The experiment uses a 5-kJ capacitor bank to deliver 0.35 MA to the pinch load in 1.4 mu rm s. This research establishes parameters important to increasing the x-ray yield of dense z-pinches. The initial stage of the implosion is diagnosed with a framing camera that photographs visible light emitted from z-pinch gas breakdown. Data from subsequent stages of the pinch is recorded with a B-dot probe, filtered x-ray diodes, an x-ray filtered pinhole camera, and a nitrogen laser interferometer. Applied axial magnetic fields of ~100 gauss increase average x-ray yield by more than 20%. A substantial increase of K-shell x -ray yield of more than 200% was obtained by increasing the energy delivered to the plasma by enlarging the nozzle diameter from 4 to 5 cm. The use of a Teflon outer-mantle for the nozzle resulted in less uniform gas breakdown as compared to graphite and copper outer-mantles, but x-ray yield and final state uniformity were not reduced. Lower Z gases showed poorer breakdown uniformity. Pre-ionization improved the uniformity of helium and neon breakdown but did not appear to affect subsequent dynamics. X-ray yield was significantly higher using a knife-edge annular anode, as opposed to a flat stainless steel honeycomb anode. Annular anodes with diameters more than a few millimeters different than the nozzle diameter produced low quality pinches with substantially lower x-ray yield.