X pinches are well known to produce very small, dense plasma pinches (“micropinches”) that emit short bursts of 1.5–8keV radiation [Shelkovenko et al., Phys. Plasmas 9, 2165 (2002)]. X-ray radiation in the 8–100keV range is also emitted, only a small portion of which is associated with the micropinches. Beginning immediately after the soft x-ray burst, higher energy x-ray emission is observed that is attributed to energetic electrons accelerated in the gaps that appear in the X-pinch plasma structure. The temporal, spectral, and spatial properties of this higher energy radiation (8–100keV) have been studied using two ∼0.1μs pulsed power generators, one operating at up to 450kA peak current and the other up to 270kA. This radiation was also used for imaging in a low magnification configuration, and spatial resolution of a few tens of micrometers was demonstrated.

Electron beams in 400 kA peak current Mo and W X-pinches have been studied using 1 ns time-resolution Si diodes to monitor x rays >9 keV. Softer x rays were monitored by photoconducting detectors (PCDs). Three different types of higher energy x-ray bursts were observed. The first type appears to be produced by electrons generated starting at the moment of, or immediately after, the first thermal x-ray burst (typically 40–50 ns after the current start), and Si detector signals last 1–2 ns. The second type of harder x-ray burst occurs 50–80 ns after the current start, lasts 2.5–10 ns, and is typically not correlated with a thermal x-ray burst. These two types of bursts were generated near the cross-wire region. The third type of x-ray burst occurs 70–100 ns after the current start, and is also uncorrelated with PCD signals. The energetic electrons responsible for these x rays are generated for 10–30 ns, and the radiation is produced in the anode region.

A transmission grating spectrometer (TGS) with one dimensional spatial resolution was used to investigate the radiative properties of X-pinch plasmas produced using wires made of NiCr and CoNiCr alloys, and Mo. Experiments were carried out on the Cornell XP machine. The TGS was used to estimate of the energy yields of L-shell Cr and Ni, and M-shell Mo radiation. The absolute energy yields in the wavelength range 10<λ<15 Å were 1–5% of the total energy delivered to the load (10–40 J for L-shell NiCr, and 20–50 J for M-shell Mo). An analysis of the spatial structure of X-pinch emission regions in different wavelength ranges shows that the source structure is changing with wavelength and the size varies from less than 0.1 up to 1 mm. For example, in one Mo X-pinch test shown, three separate soft x-ray sources radiating in the wavelength range λ<42 Å can be seen, but only one of those sources radiates in the wavelength range λ>42 Å. The results are compared with data obtained previously with the TGS on a 1 MA pulse powered machine Zebra.

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We present a focusing spectrograph configuration, the Focusing Spectrograph with Crossed Dispersion (FSCD), that enables us to solve the problem in a crystal spectrograph of reflected radiation in many orders. In the FSCD, the x-ray radiation from a small source is dispersed by a transmission grating placed in front of the Bragg reflector (mica crystal). This configuration retains the advantages of a spherically bent mica crystal spectrograph while enabling the analysis of the radiation in a number of spectral bands simultaneously and independently. Results using a 150 mm radius spherically bent mica crystal combined with 0.5 μm period gold transmission gratings in X pinch experiments are presented.