The scaling of the K-shell line emission of intermediate-valued atomic
number pinch plasmas, generated in a plasma focus device, is investig
ated for currents ranging between 180 kA and 310 kA, a pressure range
between 70 Pa and 1000 Pa and various values for the anode radius. It
is shown that the transient ionization dynamics can be made visible in
the scaling of the 1s-2p transition of hydrogen-like ions and the 1s(
2)-1s2p transition of helium-like ions. The experimental results for t
he resonance line scaling are in agreement with the theoretical predic
tions based on similarity considerations for the magnetohydrodynamics
and the ionization process in the pinch plasma.