Radiative Properties of Implosions of Stainless Steel Wire Arrays with Application to Astrophysics

Experiments with different stainless steel (SS) wire loads were performed on the I MA Zebra Z-pinch generator at University of Nevada, Reno. The wire array loads consisted of 7.6 mu m SS wires and had 10 wires for the planar wire array with an interwire gap of I mm and 8 wires for the cylindrical wire array of a 16 mm diameter. In addition, a single-wire experiment with a 25 mu m SS wire was carried out. The different wire loads were used to provide a broader spectrum of plasma conditions. Time-integrated and time-gated x-ray images, as well as time-integrated, spatially-resolved and spatially-integrated x-ray spectra, were collected and analyzed. Both K-shell and L-shell radiation were recorded using LiF and KAP crystal spectrometers, respectively. Non-LTE kinetic models of Fe and Ni are employed to derive plasma parameters. For axially resolved L-shell spectra, the resulting electron temperatures are between 230 and 300 eV (higher near the cathode) and electron densities vary from 10(19) to 10(20) cm(-3) dependent on the load. The advantage of using Z-pinch plasmas for astrophysical applications is highlighted.