Matter and Radiation at Extremes (Jan 2020)

X-ray emission characteristics in magnetically driven plasma jet experiments on PTS facility

  • Qiang Xu,
  • Shaotong Zhou,
  • Kun-lun Wang,
  • Siqun Zhang,
  • Hongchun Cai,
  • Xiao Ren,
  • Pan Liu,
  • Xian bin Huang,
  • Li Zhao,
  • Wenkang Zou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5120256
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 1
pp. 014401 – 014401-8

Abstract

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Jets are commonly observed astrophysical phenomena. To study the x-ray emission characteristics of jets, a series of radial foil Z-pinch experiments are carried out on the Primary Test Stand at the Institute of Fluid Physics, China Academy of Engineering Physics. In these experiments, x-ray emission ranging from the soft region (0.1–10 keV) to the hard region (10 keV–500 keV) is observed when the magnetic cavity breaks. The radiation flux of soft x-rays is measured by an x-ray diode and the dose rate of the hard x-rays by an Si-PIN detector. The experimental results indicate that the energy of the soft x-rays is several tens of kilojoules and that of the hard x-rays is ∼200 J. The radiation mechanism of the x-ray emission is briefly analyzed. This analysis indicates that the x-ray energy and the plasma kinetic energy come from the magnetic energy when the magnetic cavity breaks. The soft x-rays are thought to be produced by bremsstrahlung of thermal electrons (∼100 eV), and the hard x-rays by bremsstrahlung of super-hot electrons (∼mega-electron-volt). These results may be helpful to explain the x-ray emission by the jets from young stellar objects.