Soft x-ray measurements of <i>z</i>-pinch-driven vacuum hohlraums

Abstract

This letter reports the experimental characterization of a z-pinch-driven vacuum hohlraum. We have measured soft x-ray fluxes of 5×1012 W/cm2 radiating from the walls of hohlraums which are 2.4–2.5 cm in diameter by 1 cm tall. The x-ray source used to drive these hohlraums was a z pinch consisting of a 300 wire tungsten array driven by a 20 MA, 100 ns current pulse. In this hohlraum geometry, the z-pinch x-ray source can produce energies in excess of 800 kJ and powers in excess of 100 TW to drive these hohlraums. The x rays released in these hohlraums represent greater than a factor of 25 in energy and more than a factor of 3 in x-ray power over previous laboratory-driven hohlraums.