An X-ray Spectrometer for Plasma Physics Experiments

The University of New Mexico is developing an Xray spectrometer for plasma physics based on a commercial wavelength dispersive spectrometer. X-ray imaging plates serve as the principal detector diagnostics for X-ray emission and will be fielded in HEDP experiments such as the Z-pinch, X-pinch, and other plasma generation experiments. These diagnostics can generally be used to determine the temperature and density of a plasma; after a plasma exceeds solid state density, whereas diagnostics like heterodyne interferometry cannot provide the temperature and density information of the source.

Both bremsstrahlung and the micropinch from HEDP experiments emit x-rays measured. Both sources contain information about the plasma, however non-bremsstrahlung X-rays contain direct information on density and temperature of the plasma. While it is important to know the peak energy of x-rays were emitted, a time-integrated picture doesn’t contain the complete information on the physics of the pinch and so we will be transitioning to a full time resolved diagnostics once these initial measurements are carried out. This paper then presents design as well as preliminary measurements of the time resolved x-ray spectrometer.