Detailed hydrodynamic and X-ray spectroscopic analysis of a laser-produced rapidly-expanding aluminium plasma

• Published in: Journal of quantitative spectroscopy & radiative transfer 2001-10, Vol.71 (2), p.237-247
• Main Authors: Chambers, D.M., Glenzer, S.H., Hawreliak, J., Wolfrum, E., Gouveia, A., Lee, R.W., Marjoribanks, R.S., Renner, O., Sondhauss, P., Topping, S., Young, P.E., Pinto, P.A., Wark, J.S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-4073; 1879-1352
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-4073(01)00071-1

We present a detailed analysis of K-shell emission from laser-produced rapidly-expanding Al plasmas. This work forms part of a series of experiments performed at the Vulcan laser facility of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK. 1-D planar expansion was obtained by over-illuminating Al-microdot targets supported on CH plastic foils. The small size of the Al-plasma ensured high spatial and frequency resolution of the spectra, obtained with a single crystal spectrometer, two vertical dispersion variant double crystal spectrometers, and a vertical dispersion variant Johann Spectrometer. The hydrodynamic properties of the plasma were measured independently by spatially and temporally resolved Thomson scattering, utilizing a 4 ω probe beam. This enabled sub- and super-critical densities to be probed relative to the 1 ω heater beams. The deduced plasma hydrodynamic conditions are compared with those generated from the 1-D hydro-code Medusa, and the significant differences found in the electron temperature discussed. Synthetic spectra generated from the detailed term collisional radiative non-LTE atomic physics code Fly are compared with the experimental spectra for the measured hydrodynamic parameters, and for those taken from Medusa. Excellent agreement is only found for both the H- and He-like Al series when careful account is taken of the temporal evolution of the electron temperature.