Experimental benchmark for an improved simulation of absolute soft-X-ray emission from polystyrene targets irradiated with the nike laser

• Published in: Physical review letters 2005-02, Vol.94 (4), p.045002.1-045002.4, Article 045002
• Main Authors: WEAVER, J. L, BUSQUET, M, COLOMBANT, D. G, MOSTOVYCH, A. N, FELDMAN, U, KLAPISCH, M, SEELY, J. F, BROWN, C, HOLLAND, G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Exact sciences and technology; Hybrid methods; Laser-plasma interactions; Physics; Physics of gases, plasmas and electric discharges; Physics of plasmas and electric discharges; Plasma properties; Plasma simulation; X-ray, gamma-ray and particle generation
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.045002

Absolutely calibrated, time-resolved spectral intensity measurements of soft-x-ray emission (hnu approximately 0.1-1.0 keV) from laser-irradiated polystyrene targets are compared to radiation-hydrodynamic simulations that include our new postprocessor, Virtual Spectro. This new capability allows a unified, detailed treatment of atomic physics and radiative transfer in nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium conditions for simple spectra from low-Z materials as well as complex spectra from high-Z materials. The excellent agreement (within a factor of approximately 1.5) demonstrates the powerful predictive capability of the codes for the complex conditions in the ablating plasma. A comparison to data with high spectral resolution (E/deltaE approximately 1000) emphasizes the importance of including radiation coupling in the quantitative simulation of emission spectra.