Carbon fiber Z-pinch with current prepulse

Results of experiments studying the effect of a ringing 10 kA current prepulse on a 160 kA, 7 μm carbon fibre z-pinch are presented. A prepulse duration of 100–300 ns was found to radically alter the pinch behaviour. A delayed onset in x-ray and optical emission with respect to the main current was observed. There was a marked improvement of axial uniformity in the pinch. A large soft x-ray pulse, ten to twenty times larger than in discharges without prepulse was recorded. An electron temperature of 250±50 eV was measured which was considerably higher than in the discharges without prepulse.