Effect of Neutral Atoms on a Capillary-DischargeZPinch

We study the effect of neutral atoms on the dynamics of a capillary discharge $Z$ pinch, in a regime for which a large soft-x-ray amplification has been demonstrated. We extended the commonly used one-fluid magnetohydrodynamics model by separating out the neutral atoms as a second fluid. Numerical calculations using this extended model yield new predictions for the dynamics of the pinch collapse, and better agreement with known measured data.