Radiative characteristics of pulsed power driven z-pinch aluminum plasmas
- Naval Research Lab., Washington, DC (United States). Plasma Physics Div.
- Sandia National Lab., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
In this paper, the authors study the dynamics of a massive aluminum Z-pinch plasma load and evaluate its performance as a soft X-ray radiator. A radiation hydrodynamic model self-consistently driven by a circuit describes the dynamics. Comparisons are made for the K- and L-shell soft X-ray emission as a function of the ionization dynamic model. The ionization dynamic models are represented by: (1) a time-dependent nonequilibrium (NEQ) model, (2) a collisional radiative equilibrium (CRE) model, and (3) a local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) model. For all three scenarios the radiation is treated (1) in the free streaming optically thin approximation where the plasma is treated as a volume emitter and (2) in the optically thick regime where the opacity for the lines and continuum is self-consistently calculated online and the radiation is transported through the plasma. Each simulation is carried out independently to determine the sensitivity of the implosion dynamics to the ionization and radiation model, i.e., how the ionization dynamic model affects the radiative yield and emission spectra. Results are presented for the L- and K-shell radiation yields and emission spectra as a function of photon energy from 10 eV to 10 keV. Also, departure coefficients from LTE are presented for selected levels and ionization stages.
- OSTI ID:
- 669852
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 26; ISSN ITPSBD; ISSN 0093-3813
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
X-ray Spectroscopy of K- and L-shell Z-pinch and Astrophysical Plasmas
Influence of L-shell dynamics on K-shell yields for imploding krypton Z-pinch plasmas