Measurement of Z-pinch plasma in soft X-ray laser system utilizing capillary discharge

Summary form only given. The invention of compact and low-cost X-ray laser devices is expected in many fields. Now some methods are discovered. In 1994, it was reported that a fast capillary discharge could produce the population inversion between 3p-3s level of Ne-like Ar (46.9 nm) by collisional pumping (Rocca et al.). The system is a simple, and has a high conversion efficiency from electric to light energies and an ability of steady operation in principle, etc. In this study, we designed and constructed a "table-top" soft X-ray laser system using a pulsed power technique. Large Marx generators are usually used to produce a capillary discharge lasing plasma. However, we constructed a small pulse generator system which consists of a small Marx generator, a pulse transformer and a pulse forming line (PFL). The designed output voltage of pulse transformer is 900 kV, and the output current of the PFL has an amplitude of 100 kA with a half period of 70 ns. The system was tested at the PFL charging voltage of 180 kV and a current pulse of 21 kA with a half period of 100 ns was obtained. This value is longer than the designed period. Therefore we are planning to set the capillary tube in pure water, expecting that the gap switch electrode acts as a peaking capacitor.