Development of an 85KJ stainless steel K-shell X-ray source on the Z generator

We will discuss experiments on the Z generator using large diameter stainless steel wire arrays to produce K-shell emission (hv~6.7keV). Large array diameters and fast implosion times are needed to obtain high velocities and high temperatures in order to excite Fe K-shell emission.Since the refurbishment of the Z generator, nested stainless steel wire arrays have been fielded at 65mm, 70mm and 75 diameters, with multiple masses at each diameter. Experiments have achieved ~85 kJ of K-shell yield, with a fast rise (<;2ns) to a peak K-shell power of 35TW. These data demonstrate a 40% increase in K-shell yield relative to prerefurbishment experiments. K-shell spectroscopy is used to infer plasma densities and temperatures for these array configurations. The trends in K-shell output and plasma parameters from these mass and diameter variations will be presented. We will also discuss differences in preand postrefurbishment Z that are potentially responsible for this improvement.