X pinch experiments on the table-top MINI-generator*

The MINI-generator, a 340 kA peak current, 170 ns risetime, 40-50 kV, pulsed power generator with energy storage of 1 kJ, was designed and built at the High Current Electronic Institute (Tomsk, Russia). The generator is 45~cm diameter, 33~cm high and weights about 80 kg. The main goal was to design a table-top generator for use with X pinches to create a point source of soft x-ray radiation for radiography of plasma and biological objects. The first experiments with X-pinch loads performed in P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute (Moscow, Russia) showed that the MINI-generator has very high efficiency in transformation of a stored energy to radiated energy of an X-pinch hot spots in the range of 1 to 5 $\mu $m diameter, depending on the photon energy range. Results obtained in X-pinch experiments on MINI-generator and the XP--generator (0.5 MA, 45 ns risetime) at Cornell University will be compared.