Optical Streak Camera-Based Studies of Wire-Array Z-Pinch Implosion Dynamics on the 1-MA COBRA Pulsed Power Generator

Summary form only given. Experimental results showing wire array z-pinch implosions on the 1-MA, 100-ns rise time COBRA pulsed power generator are presented. The principal diagnostic used for these studies was an optical streak camera system, while other supporting diagnostics include a time-gated framing camera, a laser backlighting system, time-integrated pinhole cameras with various filters, and silicon diodes and diamond photoconducting devices for monitoring X-ray production. The data produced by the entire suite of diagnostics is analyzed and presented to provide an overall picture of implosion dynamics and timing on COBRA. In particular, the implosion timing relative to the start of the current pulse on COBRA is compared to that which is predicted by the ablation/implosion model developed for wire array experiments on MAGPIE, a pulsed power generator that has a similar peak current to that of CORBRA, but with a longer, 240-ns rise time.