$X$-Pinches in Dielectric Frames

The experiments reported here were designed to test X-pinch wire-loading configurations using a simple plastic frame that might enable the X-pinch wires to be changed under vacuum after a pulse. Several frame configurations and materials were tested, some of which suffered from early surface flashover and current shunting away from the X-pinch. Fiberglass frames proved to be successful both in minimizing the current shunting up to the time of the X-pinch X-ray burst and, in most tests, in substantially reducing X-ray emission from energetic electrons and secondary soft X-ray bursts following the first X-ray burst. Both of these features are beneficial for using X-pinches for point-projection radiography as well as for recording X-ray spectra from the X-pinches or other nearby plasmas