Experimental study of variable mass liner for soft X-ray generation

Relatively soft X-rays (quantum energy about 0.3 keV) may be produced by acceleration of a plasma liner up to a velocity of /spl sim/300 km/s followed by stagnation in a pinch. This means that if the plasma acceleration distance is several cm, the time of plasma motion must be about 0.1 of a microsecond. This results in a difficulty, associated with the problem of plasma stability and the liner having very small thickness and very small tolerance on initial thickness and density. Besides, quick energy input into the load requires complicated fast opening switches, which need to be experimentally tested. For experiments with explosive magnetic generators (EMG) it is reasonable to develop simpler systems to reach mass velocities about 300 km/sec. The work by A.M Buyko et al. (1995) theoretically considers one of these systems, where a liner mass during its magnetic deceleration significantly decreases and the velocity increases, i.e., a variable mass liner (VML). The same work suggests two experimental designs to test a new concept: full-scale experiment, including X-rays generation and a model experiment, including testing of the initial stage of VML formation (vdesigned to test the VML concept proposed by VNIIEF to produce soft X-rays with the megajoule energy level (joint experiment "X-Ray-1" between Russia, and the USA, 1995, VNIIEF).