Peak Implosion Power as a Predictor of Plasma Radiation Source K-Shell Performance

Hawk is a current-stiff Z-pinch driver that uses a plasma opening switch to transfer inductively-stored current into the load, and employs a vacuum voltmeter to directly measure the voltage drop across the neon gas-puff Z-pinch. The load-voltage measurements permit calculation of the time-dependent load inductance, as well as the associated power P_imp and energy E_imp in the pinch during the implosion and stagnation phases. For experiments that determine the dependence of neon K-shell yield on the gas-puff density profile at constant load mass, P_imp is found to be a better measure of pinch quality and yield than peak current or implosion energy. For these data, and other data for which the load mass was varied with constant profile shape, P_imp and E_imp are combined with K-shell radiation measurements to provide insights into the physics of the pinch stagnation phase.