Characterisation of a Tungsten X-pinch dense plasma

An X-pinch experiment using a load made of two 25-μm Tungsten wires was investigated. The X-pinch is a plasma produced by a powerful (~100 kA) current pulse that is applied to two or more slanted wires joined at the centre. The diagnostics employed included PIN diode detection, voltage and current measurement and pinhole X-ray photography. The results show that the X-rays emitted are initially thermal in nature and have energy ~7.7 keV and afterwards there is harder, non-isotropic radiation that can be attributed to a plasma interruption. The radiography shows that there is formation of a jet of plasma at the moment of maximum compression.