Aluminum and tungsten X-pinch experiments on 100 kA, 100 ns linear transformer driver stage

X-pinch experiments have been carried out on a 100 kA, 100 ns linear transformer driver stage recently built up. The X-pinches exhibited a source size of about 10 μm, a pulse duration of 3 ns, 3–5 keV radiation energy of 3.9 mJ, and a burst time jitter of tens of nanosecond with the 2-wire 8 μm W X-pinch load. The generator output current and the X-pinch characteristics depended on the X-pinch wire materials in the tests. X-ray backlighting images from the insects showed the significant phase-contrast effect.