High-energy X-Pinch characterization for dynamic X-ray diffraction

X-Pinch sources constitute an interesting way to produce fast intense X-ray beam to perform X-ray diffraction under shock loading at the laboratory scale. They rely on the implosion of thin metallic wires crossed in an "X" shape provoked by an intense electric current. The emitted energies above 10 keV enabled to get dynamic diffraction patterns under shock loading for both single crystalline and polycrystalline materials. The emission spectrum is composed of a weak Bremsstrahlung radiation combined to intense lines, depending on the wires used into the experiment. The radiation hardly ever spreads over 100 ns and seems to be emitted by several sources. However, to optimize the configuration under shock loading, a better characterization of the emission is needed. Experiments were carried out to determine the potential influence of the wire material and diameter onto the spectral and temporal emission as well as the source size for energies greater than 10 keV. This study first focuses on Gold and Molybdenum wires with a diameter between 20 and 45 µm. For each experiment, the time-integrated emitted spectrum and source size were measured respectively with a crystal spectrometer and pinhole imaging. The temporal emitted intensity was measured with PIN diodes. In each case, spectral filters were used to isolate the high energy contribution of the source. A noticeable fluctuation of the results is observed for identical experimental parameters, particularly the emitted intensity profile and the source shape.