New loads for pulse power generators

Cylindrical wire array implosion, successively used at the Z generator of Sandia Labs., is suggested for application to current switching in the 10 ns range on the load disposed in different cavity. This inductive switch can be used for the fast implosion of the cylindrical wire array in order obtain X-ray pulses in the 10 keV range. Sharpened current pulses can also be used for the creation and heating of a layer of magnetically confined plasma, kept in equilibrium by a conducting wall with a mass near 1 mg, making an ultra bright X-ray flash lamp for ICF. The merit of the resistor as a load is that it avoids the process of strongly unstable implosion, and minimizes the volume cavity. It means that losses due to heating of the cavity walls and due to the escape of X-rays through the vacuum gap can be reduced.