Making K‐shell radiation from aluminum foil implosions

In array implosions that are timed to assemble on axis at the peak of the current pulse, x‐ray production can be viewed ass a two step process. In the first step, energy input to the plasma is predominantly kinetic generated by the work of the JxB forces. This energy is then thermalized when the array collides with itself on axis, and the plasma is rapidly ionized and radiates. Important questiosns are, how efficiently does this thermalization process lead to the gneration of K‐shell radiation as the mass of the array is increased, how much kinetic‐energy‐per‐ion must be generated to produce, and perhaps optimize, K‐shell emission,a nd how are the implosiion time, the array mass, and the peak current of the pulse power machine to be chosen to achieve different K‐shell yields?We investigatede these questions using both non‐hydrodynamic slug and 1‐dimensional radiative hydrodynamic models. A linearly rising current that was switched off just before the plasma collision and assembly on axis was used to drive...