A Review of the Gas-Puff $Z$ -Pinch as an X-Ray and Neutron Source

Fisher and collaborators at the University of California, Irvine, invented the gas puff Z-pinch in the late 1970s using a 200-kA generator. The implementation of gas puffs as a copious source of X-rays has encountered major challenges, such as disruptive instabilities and the quest for long implosion times. During nearly four decades of experimental and theoretical efforts, those challenges have b...