X-Pinches and Faraday Rotation Imaging on the MAIZE Pulsed Power Facility

X-pinches, formed by driving intense current through the crossing of 2 or more wires, provide an excellent platform for the study of “micro-pinches” due to their propensity to generate a single micro-pinch at a predetermined location in space (i.e., where the wires cross) [1], [2]. Ideally, micro-pinches are areas of run-away compression to very small radii
$(\sim 1\ \mu \mathrm{m})$
leading to pressures on the order of ~1 Gbar for currents on the order of ~0.1 MA. However, the fraction of the total current that is driven through the dense micro-pinch plasma at small radii versus that being shunted through the surrounding coronal plasma at larger radii is not well known. To allow for the study of X-pinches and their current distribution on the 1-MA MAIZE facility, a Faraday rotation imaging diagnostic (1064 nm) [3], as well as a corresponding modular load hardware, were developed. Presented is the status of these developments including preliminary experimental results characterizing X-pinches on the MAIZE LTD.