Dynamics of the Implosion of a Tungsten Wire Array onto the Central Aluminum Wire

Results are presented from the studies of the magnetic implosion of a tungsten wire liner onto an aluminum wire at currents of 2.0–2.6 MA. The experiments were carried out in the S-300 high-power pulsed facility at the Russian Research Centre Kurchatov Institute. The liner is composed of 50 wires 6(mu)m in diameter and 1 cm in length, which are equally spaced on a circle 1 cm in diameter. An aluminum wire 120(mu)m in diameter is positioned at the array axis. The liner implosion was accompanied by the generation of VUV and soft X-ray emission. The parameters of the pinch plasma produced during the liner implosion onto the aluminum wire were determined from the time-resolved spectral measurements by a five-channel polychromator. The ion and electron densities turned out to be equal to n[sub i]~~ 4×10[sup 19]cm[sup –3] and n[sub e]~~ 4×10[sup 20]cm[sup –3], respectively, and the electron temperature was T[sub e]approx. 40 eV. The radiation energy measured in the range 50–600 eV was 2–10 kJ. The sources of soft X-ray emission in hydrogen- and helium-like aluminum lines were the bright spots and local objects (clouds) formed in the plasma corona at an electron temperature of 200–500 eV and electron density of 10[sup 21]–10[sup 22]cm[sup –3]. The possibility of both the generation of an axial magnetic field during the liner implosion and the conversion of the energy of this field into soft X-ray emission is discussed.