The rod-pinch diode consists of an annular cathode and a small-diameter anode rod that extends through the hole in the cathode. With high-atomic-number material at the tip of the anode rod, the diode provides a small-area, high-yield x-ray source for pulsed radiography. The diode is operated in positive polarity at peak voltages of 1 to 2 MV with peak total electrical currents of 30–70 kA. Anode rod diameters as small as 0.5 mm are used. When electrode plasma motion is properly included, analysis shows that the diode impedance is determined by space-charge-limited current scaling at low voltage and self-magnetically limited critical current scaling at high voltage. As the current approaches the critical current, the electron beam pinches. When anode plasma forms and ions are produced, a strong pinch occurs at the tip of the rod with current densities exceeding 106 A/cm2. Under these conditions, pinch propagation speeds as high as 0.8 cm/ns are observed along a rod extending well beyond the cathode. Even faster pinch propagation is observed when the rod is replaced with a hollow tube whose wall thickness is much less than an electron range, although the propagation mechanism may be different. The diode displays well-behaved electrical characteristics for aspect ratios of cathode to anode radii that are less than 16. New physics understanding and important properties of the rod-pinch diode are described, and a theoretical diode current model is developed and shown to agree with the experimental results. Results from numerical simulations are consistent with this understanding and support the important role that ions play. In particular, it is shown that, as the ratio of the cathode radius to the anode radius increases, both the Langmuir–Blodgett space-charge-limited current and the magnetically limited critical current increase above previously predicted values.

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The first results of experiments using plasma opening switches for inductive energy storage are described. The switch has been shown to conduct up to 200-kA current for ∼50 ns then to open in <10 ns, transferring the current to an electron beam load. Inductive energy storage, pulse compression, and power multiplication are demonstrated. A simple model explaining the switch operation is presented.

Fisher and collaborators at the University of California, Irvine, invented the gas puff Z-pinch in the late 1970s using a 200-kA generator. The implementation of gas puffs as a copious source of X-rays has encountered major challenges, such as disruptive instabilities and the quest for long implosion times. During nearly four decades of experimental and theoretical efforts, those challenges have been successfully met to a great extent. This success is a result of the efforts of a large number of researchers. Today, the gas-puff Z-pinch has evolved into a powerful source of X-rays and neutrons, and is fielded on multi-Mega-Ampere generators. The basic force imploding a pinch is straightforward, but the operation of a gas puff requires specialized hardware and a thorough understanding of the radiation physics involves magnetohydrodynamics coupled with nonequilibrium ionization kinetics. The goal of this review is to document the experiments and theory that have led to the success of the gas puff as a K-shell X-ray and neutron source. Consequently, this review takes a historical approach to the covered material, but also provides a broad introduction to relevant scientific concepts.

The merits of several high-resolution, pulsed-powerdriven, flash X-ray sources are examined with numerical simulation for voltages up to 10 MV. The charged particle dynamics in these self-magnetically pinched diodes (SMPDs), as well as electron scattering and energy loss in the high-atomic-number target, are treated with the partic by coupling the output from LSP with the two-dimensional component of the integrated tiger series of Monte Carlo electron/photon transport codes, CYLTRAN. The LSP/CYLTRAN model agrees well with angular dose-rate measurements from positive-polarity rod-pinch-diode experiments, where peak voltages ranged from 5.2-6.3 MV. This analysis indicates that, in this voltage range, the dose increases with angle and is a maximum in the direction headed back into the generator. This suggests that high-voltage rod-pinch experiments should be performed in negative polarity to maximize the extracted dose. The benchmarked LSP/CYLTRAN model is then used to examine three attractive negative-polarity diode geometry concepts as possible high-resolution radiography sources for voltages up to 10 MV. For a 2-mm-diameter reentrant rod-pinch diode (RPD), a forward-directed dose of 740 rad(LiF) at 1 m in a 50-ns full-width at half-maximum radiation pulse is predicted. For a 2-mm-diameter nonreentrant RPD, a forward-directed dose of 1270 rad(LiF) is predicted. For both RPDs, the on-axis X-ray spot size is comparable to the rod diameter. A self-similar hydrodynamic model for rod expansion indicates that spot-size growth from hydrodynamic effects should be minimal. For the planar SMPD, a forward-directed dose of 1370 rad(LiF) and a similar X-ray spot size are predicted. These results show that the nonreentrant RPD and the planar SMPD are very attractive candidates for negative-polarity high-resolution X-ray sources for voltages of up to 10 MV.Index Terms-Bremsstrahlung, coupled electron-photon transport, electron beams, flash X-radiography, high-power diodes, ion beams, Monte Carlo, particle-in-cell.