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28th ICPIG, July 15-20, 2007, Prague, Czech Republi

Topic number: 15

Compact pulse power generator for X-pinch researches


N. Ratakhin, V. Feduschak, A.Erfort, N. Zharova, S. Chaikovsky, V.Oreshkin, N. Zhidkova, A. Fedunin
Institute of High Current Electronics, Akademichesky ave. 2/3, 634055 Tomsk, Russia X-ray radiography of short-lived objects using X-pinches is a new promising trend in diagnostics. The high spatial and temporal resolution, achievable with X-pinches, make them exceptionally interesting for studies of fast processes and behaviour of matter in extreme states. This paper describes a compact high-current pulse generator (current amplitude 300 kA at a 200-ns current pulse risetime), which will produce soft X-rays from high-temperature X-pinch plasmas. First shots with the real load (X-pinch) have shown that the generator and the load design are suitable for high power x-ray generation from the X-pinch.

1. Introduction The method of producing dense high-temperature plasma in electrically exploded crossed wires was proposed at the Lebedev Physical Institute (Russia) in the 80s [1]. Experiments showed that a bright soft X-ray source with a size of a few micron and with an X-ray pulse duration of 0.1-10 ns is formed at the cross point of the wires. At present such sources find application in X-ray radiography of small-scale objects, including short-lived plasma objects, in the soft (3-5 keV) and harder (10-20 keV) X-ray spectra [2]. The methods of registration of the radiation produced by an X-pinch and X-ray of the analyzed object are now highly developed. A great deal of data has been gained on the moment of an Xray burst against the diameter, material, and mass of conductors [3]. This allows accurate prediction of the instant at which the object is probed in pulsed experiments. X-pinch radiation backlighting of plasma arrays has given a deeper insight into the processes such as stratoformation in electrically exploded microconductors, cold start and plasma rainstorm in magnetically imploded multiwire arrays on ANGARA (Russia) and MAGPIE (Great Britain) generators [4]. An X-pinch is two or more wires which are crossed in the shape of X and exploded under the action of the current they draw. The hightemperature plasma, which serves as an X-ray source, is generated at the cross point of the wires. At present there are two methods for Xpinch imaging of plasma objects. In the first method, which is typical for experiments with plasma implosion on megaampere high-current generators, an X-pinch is powered by part of the main generator current; more specifically it is placed instead of one of the rods of the return conductor. Despite the advantages (the proximity of the X-ray source to the plasma, the absence of a separate generator), this arrangement has a number of shortcomings. One of them resides in the fact that the moment of an X-ray

burst is difficult to vary; namely, one should either change the diameter or the number of the wires, which strongly affects the spectral distribution and the size of the radiation source. Moreover, this method is applicable only for studies on a given generator. In the second method, a separate generator is used. The main requirements imposed on the generator are the current amplitude 150-300 kA and the rate of the current rise 1-2 kA/ns. At the moment, these parameters of the current pulse can be provided only by enough large fixedsite generators weighing from 300 kg to several tons. These shortcomings limit to a great extent the feasibility of this diagnostic technique in studies of extreme states. Therefore, the design of a portable pulse generator which provides the required parameters makes it possible to proceed to a new level of diagnostics of fast processes. 2. Generator description
Switch

Lline

Lgen

LX-pinch

gen

Fig. 1. Electric scheme of the pulse power generator.

The arrangement of the high-current pulse generator is shown in Figure 1. The main components of the generator are a high-voltage power supply, a system of high-voltage synchronization, a low-inductance capacitor bank, multichannel switches, and a transmission line. The

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28th ICPIG, July 15-20, 2007, Prague, Czech Republi

Current, kA

principle of the generator operation is the following. The high-voltage power supply charges the capacitor bank to a voltage of 50 kV. On the operation of the multichannel switches, which are triggered by the synchronization system, a current pulse is transmitted to a load through the forming line. The generator consists of four capacitor-switch modules. A module is composed of a 0.25-F capacitor and a 50-kV switch. In designing the capacitors, prominence was given to minimize the resistance and to decrease the high current impact on the contacts. To decrease the inductance, the capacitor is placed in a coaxial position directly on the switch case.

pulse with a risetime of 10 ns and with amplitude of 50 kV. The generator dimensions do not exceed 40 x 40 x 50 cm and its weight is order of 70 kg. The view of the generator is shown in Figure 2. 3. Experimental results On the short-sircuit load (pure inductive) the generator provides current amplitude of 300 kA with a rise time of 200 ns at 45 kV charging voltage.
400 300 200 100 0 -100 -200 -300 0 500 1000 1500 2000
Experimental current Calculated current

Time, ns Fig. 3. The experimental and calculated current traces.

Fig. 2. View of the generator.

The pulse switch in the output stage of the energy store is an element which determines the parameters of an electromagnetic pulse through the load. The switch serves as a device of energy extraction from the capacitor. The switch is connected in series with the capacitor and must provide the required rate of energy extraction, i.e., have minimum inductance, and also transfer as much energy to the load as possible, i.e., have minimum resistance. To meet these requirements, the mode of multichannel switching is used which ensures both a low inductance and a high value of the charge transferred through the switch. The switch operates on the principle of field distortion at an increased air pressure (1-4 atm). The trigger generator provides synchronous operation of the four switches. The generator consists of a cable section charged to 50 kV and connected to ground by a trigatron switch. This arrangement makes it possible to obtain a trigger

The current was measured by a Rogowski coil and a magnetic probe. In order to clarify the electrical scheme parameters circuit calculations were performed. The inductance of the one module was evaluated from the previous experimental tests of the modules and was found to be 28 nH. The experimental and calculated current traces are shown in Figure 3. In the calculations a load inductance and an active circuit resistance were varied in order to fit experimental current trace. The best fit was found at the parameters presented on the scheme (Fig.4). Thus, the generator impedance is 0.13 Ohm and the active resistance is 0.02 Ohm. We guess that this active resistance is attributed not to switches resistivity, but to internal capacitor resistivity. The reason is that the current trace is accurately described by the calculation with the constant active resistance (Fig.3), while the switch resistance should be time dependent. The first shots on the X-pinch load were performed. The load block and the X-pinch design are shown in Fig.5. We used four nickel wires with the diameter of 30 m. The diagnostics include the Rogowski coil, load voltage monitor and x-ray diode (XRD). The x-ray diode had an aluminium cathode and mylar filter with thickness 3 m. Maximum response of the detector falls in the spectral region 200-284 eV. The experimental traces are shown in Fig. 6.

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28th ICPIG, July 15-20, 2007, Prague, Czech Republi

L5 9.3nH L1 28nH L2 28nH L3 28nH L4 28nH R 0.018

U1

U2

U3

U4

short-circuit load. This fact is in contradiction with the other experiment results [5]. In this paper the impedance was estimated to be 0.04 Ohm. However, it should be noted that there are not great experience in X-pinch researches on the low impedance generator. Usually, for this experiments are used generators with the impedance of 0.5-2 Ohm [2,3]. The most efficient modes of the X-pinch radiation generation on the low impedance generator will be a subject of the further investigations. 4. Conclusion The use of the self-made pulse capacitors and multichannel switches has made possible the design of a compact portable (weight 70 kg, dimensions 40 x 40 x 50 cm ) pulse generator with a pulsed power up to 5 GW. The parameters of the generator are the following. Energy stored in the capacitor bank: 1 kJ. Maximum charge voltage: 50 kV. Maximum current: 300 kA. Current rise time: 200 ns. First shots with the real load (X-pinch) showed that the generator and the load design are suitable for high power x-ray generation from the X-pinch. The work was partially supported by the RFBR grants #06-08-00001-a, #06-02-96906-r-ofi and 0608-72001-MNTI_a. 5. References [1] S.M.Zakharov et.al, Sov. Tech. Phys. Lett. 8 (1982) 456. [2] S.A. Pikuz et al, Nukleonika, 46 (2001) 115. [3] T.A.Shelkovenko et al, IEEE Trans. on Plasma Sci., 30 (2002) 567. [4] V.V.Alexandrov et al, IEEE Trans. on Plasma Sci., 30 (2002) 559. [5] L.E. Aranchuk, J. Larour and A. Chuvatin, IEEE Trans on Plasma Sci. 33 (2005) 990.

0
C1 250n

0
C2 250n

0
C3 250n

0
C4 250n

Fig. 4. Electrical scheme of the generator.


O148.0 O9.2

Fig. 5. The X-pinch load block scheme.


150 120 90
Current Voltage UXRD

100

60 40 20 0 -20

60 30 0 -30 -60 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150

-40 1200

Time, ns Fig. 6. Experimental signals.

It should be noted that we did not expect such short radiation pulse in this spectral range. So, the peak x-ray diode signal can be distorted by low bandwidth of the attenuator. It was also very striking that the impedance of the X-pinch occurred to be as high as 0.14-0.2 Ohm. This impedance can explain such sharp current lowering in comparison with

U, kV and UXRD, V

80

I, kA

5.0

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