Measurements of plasma implosion driven x-ray laser target closure

A time-resolved, framing, x-ray pinhole camera filtered to look mainly at aluminum K-shell radiation has been fielded on the Proto II accelerator. This diagnostic has been used to study the dynamics of x-ray laser targets which are struck by an imploding argon Z-pinch plasma. Measurements have been made of the motion of a 2000A thick aluminum layer which is deposited on the outside of 2.0-4.0μm thick parylene, 3mm diameter cylindrical x-ray laser targets. One dimensional calculations suggest that the position of the aluminum layer can be correlated to the radial position of the center of mass of the target as it implodes. Consequently, from simple conservation of momentum arguments one should be able to relate the observed motion of the aluminum layer to the kinetic energy in the driving gas. The kinetic energy of the imploding gas determined using this method is compared with the observed total radiated energy