Effect of anode shape on pinch structure and X-ray emission of plasma focus device

Abstract

The effect of anode shapes on pinch structure and X-ray emission of plasma focus device operated with cylindrical, diverging, oval and converging anode tips is reported. The pinch structure in the radial compression phase has been investigated by employing a triple pinhole camera. It has been observed that pinch structure as well as the X-ray emission of PF device strongly depends upon anode tip designs. For the first time the studies were carried out in two new shapes of anode tips that is the oval and the divergent one. It has been observed that the oval and diverging anode tips are more conducive for the formation of instabilities and hotspot generation. The studies of X-ray emission were also carried out by employing three channels of a p-i-n diode X-ray spectrometer in entire anode designs to corroborate the results of a triple pinhole camera. Additionally, the effective hard X-ray photon energy was also estimated by the radiography method for all the anode tip designs, which indirectly provide a qualitative idea of the generation of induced accelerating field in the pinched column during compression. © 2013 The Authors.