Optimisation of intense X-ray sources of Z-pinch type connected to the high intensity current generator SPHINX

A new source of intense X-rays in the spectral range of the keV has been designed in the CEA facilities at Gramat (France). This Z-pinch source is based on the implosion of a cylinder of matter that has been ionized by the Lorentz force generated by the injection in the cylinder of an intense current pulse delivered by a HPP (High Pulsed Powers) generator named SPHINX. The cylinder of matter is made up of a few hundreds of thin metal wires (tungsten or aluminium) whose diameter is less than a few tenths of μm. The SPHINX generator is based on the LTD (Linear Transformer Driver) technology. SPHINX stores an energy of 2.2 MJ and delivers a current of 8 MA over a time of 1 μs. SPHINX does not use any technology of time compression, it is a robust, compact machine with reduced maintenance but the price to pay for this simplification is to maintain a high axial homogeneity of the implosion during the initiation phase, it means the pulse time of 1μs. The preliminary experiments that have been performed give the following results: -) for a tungsten cylinder (X ray < 1 keV): 500 kJ, 16 TW and 15 ns; -) for a aluminium cylinder (X ray > 1 keV): 28 kJ, 0.6 TW and 25 ns