Compression of hollow gaseous envelopes at a microsecond plasma generator of x radiation

Experiments with electric discharges across hollow gaseous envelopes have been carried out on a microsecond plasma generator of x radiation (200 kA, 40 kV, 1.5 μs, Ne–Ar mixture). The diagnostic complex made it possible to carry out time- and space-resolved observations in the visible range by means of streak and framing cameras. In the vacuum-UV range, a spectrograph with a transparent grating and a vacuum x-ray diode were used. In the soft x-ray range, a crystal spectrograph with convex and spherically bent crystals, a crystal x-ray microscope, pinhole cameras, and p-i-n diodes were used. The spectral range 0.3–1.5 nm contains lines of He- and H-like Ne and of He-like Ar. These ions are used for x-ray-spectral estimates of the electron temperatures and the densities of the plasma of the hot spots. These estimates lie in the ranges 1–1.3 keV and (0.5–1) · 10²² cm^–3. At the optimum nozzle diameter in terms of the x-ray yield, a kink instability and the formation of hot spots are observed simultaneously. Suppressing the kink instability increases the radiation yield. Emission from the plasma column in K_α lines of argon has been observed.