Effect of Neutral Atoms on a Capillary-Discharge<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi mathvariant="italic">Z</mml:mi></mml:math>Pinch

Abstract

We study the effect of neutral atoms on the dynamics of a capillary discharge $Z$ pinch, in a regime for which a large soft-x-ray amplification has been demonstrated. We extended the commonly used one-fluid magnetohydrodynamics model by separating out the neutral atoms as a second fluid. Numerical calculations using this extended model yield new predictions for the dynamics of the pinch collapse, and better agreement with known measured data.