CHARACTERIZATION OF SOFT X-RAYS GENERATED IN GAS-PUFFED Z-PINCH

Soft X-rays generated with a gas-puff pinch device is characterized us ing a pinhole camera which enables a quantitative intensity measuremen t, a Bragg imaging spectrometer and an X-ray diode. A neutral argon sh ell whose line density was 8.1x10(17) atoms / cm (M= 5.5x10(-5) g/cm) was formed between the electrodes. The soft X-rays were emitted for ab out 10 ns in the early stage of the plasma column formation. Highly lo calized and intense soft X-ray sources, so-called hot spots, were obse rved in the pinched plasma. The emitted energy was estimated to be 50/-15 J into 4 pi sr, for Ar K-lines. The reproducibility of the X-ray emission are discussed.