Intense XUV emission generated by a capillary discharge based apparatus

We present the characterization of an apparatus generating XUV radiation by a high peak value (20-40) kA and short rise time (∼ 20 ns) current pulse in a capillary discharge channel (up to 20 cm in length) filled by argon gas. The apparatus has been developed with the purpose of production of an intensive spontaneous emission in the spectral region of (2-50) nm and study of the z-pinch conditions for obtaining the laser generation in the Ne-like Ar at 46.9 nm. The current pulses are generated by the direct discharge of a 7nF water dielectric capacitor resonantly charged up to 400 kV by a six-stages Marx generator. The XUV radiation emitted during the radial compression of the plasma column is measured using calibrated PIN diodes, filters and multilayer mirrors in order to test the z-pinch plasma collapse and to measure the conversion efficiency of the electrical energy into the XUV radiation.