Photo-ionisation of gas by x-rays from a wire array z-pinch

An experiment is presented in which the x-ray emission from a stagnated wire array z-pinch is used to photo-ionise gas inside a gas cell. Photo-ionisation studies with x-rays from wire array implosions on the Z facility at Sandia National Labs used a gas cell positioned side-on and at large distances from the pinch 1 . Due to the much smaller radiation power from a 1 MA z-pinch, in our experiments the gas cell is mounted in an end-on position, close to the pinch.