X-pinch wire load experiments on BLACKJACK 5

The X-pinch is an attractive concept because it can concentrate X-ray emission to a small region near the intersection of two or more wires. Several titanium alloy wire configurations were tested on BLACKJACK 5, including the two-wire X-pinch, the six-wire X-pinch, single wires, and an array of six parallel wires. K-shell X-ray emission mostly originated from a 2 to 3 mm region with the two-wire X-pinch and a 4 to 6 mm region with the six-wire X-pinch. K-shell yields obtained with the six-wire X-pinch of optimal wire diameter (340 J) were competitive with those produced by the single wire (400 J) and the wire array (300 J), and double the best achieved with the two-wire X-pinch. Linear yield densities (brightnesses) with the six-wire X-pinch, ∼700 J/cm, exceeded those of single wire and wire array loads of the same 3 cm discharge length by factors of five or more. (author)