a sequence of images taken
over about 50 nanoseconds of time
showing a z-pinch x-ray generator
Think of it as an exploding doughnut
and you have most of the idea
You are looking sideways through
a doughnut about an inch across
When the walls of the doughnut hole
meet in the middle and merge
into to a thin, hot, column
that's where the x-rays are made
That hot column doesn't last long
The pressure is high and it is already
starting to blow apart in the large image
This wasn't my machine
I took the images for a friend
and knew enough about how it worked
to build the camera I needed
but when I first saw an image
with that perfect wine-glass shape
coming out of the developing tray
I said "That's how it works!"
Images are very powerful
They keep experimentalists like myself
in business