Cable Array $Z$-Pinch Experiments at 1 MA

Individual wires in a
Z
-pinch were replaced with twisted pairs of wires, i.e., “cables.” We define a cable here as two or more fine wires twisted together to form a continuous strand with a twist wavelength λ
_t
, dependent on the number of twists per unit length. Imploding Al cable array
Z
-pinches show a λ
_t
-dependent increase in peak power above 1 keV.
X
-pinch backlighter radiography of nonimploding Ni and Cu cable arrays shows axially repeating shocklike structures. We have applied a filtered backprojection technique on these images in order to reconstruct a cross-sectional density mapping.