Figure 1

Half-section drawing of hardware. A solid, machined cross point of the desired material is inserted between two tungsten electrodes as the load of the SATURN facility. Most diagnostics had a 35° view below the horizontal.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 2

Sample data from selected $\mathsf{X}$-pinch tests. (a) Total load current and the total soft-x-ray power. (b) 3-5-keV x-ray power measured using a PCD with a $12.5\mathrm{\text{−}}\mu \mathrm{m}$ Ti filter.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 3

X-ray streak camera data from a W-Cu $\mathsf{X}$-pinch test (s3859). (a) Time-calibrated streak image. The (slightly tilted) photocathode slit was covered with $12.7\mu \mathrm{m}$ Kapton (polyimide) and ten additional filters of different materials and thicknesses to provide spectral information. An additional $125\mu \mathrm{m}$ Kapton debris filter was also used. Accounting for the width of the static slit image, the data are consistent with a 0.4 ns main pulse duration. (b) Plot of the net streak camera response as a function of photon energy compared with two models for the continuum emission. (c) Comparison of measured and calculated signal amplitudes for six of the streak filters, using two different emission models. The data error bars represent film signal variations after background subtraction. The modeling error bars represent variations due to $\pm 0.5\mu \mathrm{m}$ filter thickness uncertainties. Similar quality matches to the data are obtained for blackbody temperatures $1275\pm 75\mathrm{eV}$ and bremsstrahlung temperatures $3500\pm 500\mathrm{eV}$.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 4

Time-gated MLM pinhole camera images (4 mm by 4 mm, 3-ns gate times) from a Cu-Ni $\mathsf{X}$-pinch test (s3812). (a) Monochromatic 277 eV image data ($\sim 0.5\mathrm{mm}$ resolution). (b) Broadband $>1\mathrm{keV}$ image data ($8\mathrm{\text{−}}\mu \mathrm{m}$ Be filter, $\sim 0.2\mathrm{mm}$ resol.). (c) Solid model view of initial cross-point for comparison. (d) Plot of the soft x-ray diode and hard (PCD) x-ray power from the experiment. The cross-timing of each MLM row and each diode is accurate to $\pm 1.5\mathrm{ns}$.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 5

Time-integrated slit camera data ($40\mu \mathrm{m}$ Cu filter) from a W $\mathsf{X}$-pinch test (s3941). (a) A portion of the film image. Three offset x-ray sources produced sharp and diffuse projections of each of the 20, 40, and $80\mathrm{\text{−}}\mu \mathrm{m}$ slits. (b) Lineouts along the two regions from part (a). (c) The difference of the two lineouts from part (b). Vertical black bars of the same size are overlaid to illustrate that the three slit images have the same peak amplitude. (d) Simulated lineouts for a $20\mu \mathrm{m}$ slit calculated using wave-optics modeling assuming source sizes from 3 to $20\mu \mathrm{m}$, overlaid with the normalized data from part (c). (e) The same for the $40\mu \mathrm{m}$ slit. The data are most consistent with a source size of $5\pm 2\mu \mathrm{m}$.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 6

Log density ($\mathrm{kg}/{\mathrm{m}}^3$) slices through 3D magnetohydrodynamics simulations of a solid W $\mathsf{X}$-pinch experiment. The times shown are relative to peak x-ray emission. The structure mostly remains cylindrically symmetric because of the large on-axis mass but the density and pressure at peak compression are limited by 3D asymmetry.Reuse & Permissions