Axially resolved z-pinch density, electron temperature, and K-shell emitting mass estimates from charge-coupled device based diagnostics

Abstract

Timely estimates of z-pinch plasma conditions can aid in the optimization of plasma radiation source K-shell emission. For example, a shell-on-shell argon gas puff has many parameters, such as the axial gas density profile, inner to outer shell mass ratio, total mass, and pinch load length, which can be varied on a shot by shot basis. At the Double-EAGLE facility at Maxwell Physics International, digital cameras have been implemented to routinely record pinhole images, x-ray spectra, and axially resolved streak images. A computer algorithm has been implemented to take as input the data (pinch diameter, Ar Lyα to Heα line ratio, and K-shell power) and output the plasma parameters (density, electron temperature, and K-shell-emitting mass) as a function of z-pinch axial location. We describe the algorithm and present results for three different z-pinch loads.