Z-pinch characteristics of the tandem puff

Summary Form only given, as follows. The tandem puff uses a coaxial gun geometry based on the dense plasma focus but without a breach insulator to generate a fast Z-pinch. Experiments characterizing the tandem puff with neon as the working gas have been performed using a 250-kJ, 120-kV capacitor bank. With a quarter period of about 3 mu s, operation of the bank at 100 kV resulted in peak drive current approaching 1.5 MA. The Z-pinch was characterized by a number of diagnostics. Its radiative output displayed a strong dependence on the mass per unit length imploded and the initial mass spatial distribution. In a 10-cm-diameter cathode and 15-cm-diameter anode configuration the typical Z-pinch length was between 1.5 and 2.0 cm. At current levels of about 1.3 MA, observed final implosion velocities were a few times 10 cm/s with resultant plasma temperatures ranging from 100 to 200 eV. Neon K-shell yields up to 800 J were obtained with pulse widths ranging from 10 to 20 ns FWHM. The corresponding power and yield per unit length were 10 GW/cm and 500 J/cm, respectively.<>