Gas-filled cylindrical liner z-pinch experiments on the magpie facility

Summary form only given. The latest data from gas-filled cylindrical liner z-pinch experiments performed on the MAGPIE facility at Imperial College London (1.4MA, 240ns) are presented. The MAGPIE current is applied to thin-walled (100um) tubes with a static gas-fill inside (initial gas density 1E-5 g/cc). The system is used to drive cylindrically converging strong shock waves (U_s = 20-50km/s) into different gases.The experimental geometry is nominally uniform along the diagnostic line of sight and in addition the shock waves show a high degree of azimuthal symmetry. This allows determination of the radial dependence of axially averaged plasma parameters (n_e(r), T_e(r) ). We use these experiments to study radiative heating in the shock precursor, shock stability and the response of the liners themselves to the current pulse. We present data on these phenomena, as well as from the first experiments with an applied axial magnetic field within the gas-fill.