Electron-beam-generated x rays from X pinches

X pinches are well known to produce very small, dense plasma pinches (“micropinches”) that emit short bursts of 1.5–8keV radiation [Shelkovenko et al., Phys. Plasmas 9, 2165 (2002)]. X-ray radiation in the 8–100keV range is also emitted, only a small portion of which is associated with the micropinches. Beginning immediately after the soft x-ray burst, higher energy x-ray emission is observed that is attributed to energetic electrons accelerated in the gaps that appear in the X-pinch plasma structure. The temporal, spectral, and spatial properties of this higher energy radiation (8–100keV) have been studied using two ∼0.1μs pulsed power generators, one operating at up to 450kA peak current and the other up to 270kA. This radiation was also used for imaging in a low magnification configuration, and spatial resolution of a few tens of micrometers was demonstrated.