X-ray backlighting of the periphery of an imploding multiwire array in the Angara-5-1 facility

Backlighting diagnostics for studying the peripheral region of an imploding liner in the Angara-5-1 facility by using X-ray emission from an X-pinch is described. The spatial resolution of the diagnostics was no worse than 4 µm. The X-pinch emission passed through the plasma was recorded with a photofilm. The plasma density was reconstructed from the photofilm blackening density with the help of a step attenuator made of the same material as the liner. Results are presented from experiments on X-ray backlighting of the peripheral region of a multiwire liner at the 70th ns after the beginning of the discharge. It was found that, by this time, the wire cores were depleted to different extent, their masses totalled 70% of the original wire mass, and their diameters had increased approximately threefold. The plasma ejected from the wire cores was found to be axially stratified with a spatial period of 200 µm. Sometimes the axial nonuniformity of the core material with a characteristic scale length of 20 µm was observed.