Determination of the Ion Temperature in a High-Energy-Density Plasma Using the Stark Effect.

We present the experimental determination of the ion temperature in a neon-puff Z pinch. The diagnostic method is based on the effect of ion coupling on the Stark line shapes. It was found, in a profoundly explicit way, that at stagnation the ion thermal energy is small compared to the imploding-plasma kinetic energy, where most of the latter is converted to hydromotion.

Absolute calibration method for nanosecond-resolved, time-streaked, fiber optic light collection, spectroscopy systems.

This paper describes a convenient and accurate method to calibrate fast (<1 ns resolution) streaked, fiber optic light collection, spectroscopy systems. Such systems are inherently difficult to calibrate due to the lack of sufficiently intense, calibrated light sources. Such a system is used to collect spectral data on plasmas generated in electron beam diodes fielded on the RITS-6 accelerator (8-12MV, 140-200kA) at Sandia National Laboratories.

High-electron-temperature diagnostics of transient ionizing plasma using near-uv transitions.

We present spectroscopic measurements in which utilized are line-intensity ratios in the near-uv to measure electron energies of several hundred eVs, which usually necessitates the use of emission in the soft x-ray region. The main intensity ratio selected is of the BIII transition 1s(2)2s2S(1/2)-1s(2)2p2P3/2 (2066A) and the BIV transition 1s2s3S(1)-1s2p3P2 (2822A). A detailed atomic-kinetics modeling is made to demonstrate the usefulness of this atomic system for studying transient, ionizing plasmas.