Study of a Current Loss at A Z-Pinch Stagnation Due to Fast Current Redistribution

We report on the observation of a fast current switching from a Z-pinch stagnating plasma (SP) to a low density plasma (LDP) that resides at larger radii. A small-scale Z-pinch experiment, optimized for a symmetric and reproducible compression, is investigated by polarization sensitive spectroscopy (magnetic field measured by using the separation of σ+ and σ- components) with particularly high spatial resolution. Utilizing a pronounced charge state distribution [1] , we measure the radial distribution of the magnetic field and the plasma properties throughout the entire implosion and stagnation, and down to the small radius of the stagnating plasma.