EVOLUTION OF GAS-PUFF Z-PINCH DURING IMPLOSION AND PINCH PHASE

The four-frame high-speed electrooptical camera backed by an automatic image capturing and processing system has been used to investigate th e evolution of the gas-puff Z-pinch. The sequence of four images of th e pinch continuum radiation (the exposure of each frame was 1 ns, the time separation of frames was 10 or 20 ns) enabled the study of the pi nch-forming phase (zipper effect, compression), the stagnation of plas ma on the axis, as well as the pinch decay (disintegration, collapsing of the plasma column) and the determination of the velocities of indi vidual processes.