Soft X-ray production in spark discharges in hydrogen, nitrogen, air, argon and xenon gases

Summary form only given. We describe a production of soft X-rays of energy 2-10 keV by sparking in gases at low pressure with sparking voltages as low as 0.8 kV. The sparking device operates with the peak spark currents 0.2-0.5 kA, the total spark charge 4/spl times/10/sup 14/ electrons/spark, and the spark stored energy 0.024-0.17 J/pulse. In addition, we measured a profile of V(t), I(t) and dI/dt during the spark and their relationship to the X-ray production.