Electron Temperature and Plasma Flow Measurements of NIF Hohlraum Plasmas

Characterizing the plasma conditions inside NIF hohlraums, in particular mapping the plasma T$_{\mathrm{e}}$, is critical to gaining insight into mechanisms that affect energy coupling and transport in the hohlraum. The dot spectroscopy platform provides a temporal history of the localized T$_{\mathrm{e\thinspace }}$and plasma flow inside a NIF hohlraum, by introducing a Mn-Co tracer dot, at strategic locations inside the hohlraum, that comes to equilibrium with the local plasma. K-shell X-ray spectroscopy of the tracer dot is recorded onto an absolutely calibrated X-ray streak spectrometer. Isoelectronic and interstage line ratios are used to infer localized T$_{\mathrm{e}}$ through comparison with atomic physics calculations using SCRAM [S.B. Hansen, \textit{et al.} High Energy Density Phys. \textbf{3}, 109 (2007)]. Time resolved X-ray images are simultaneously taken of the expanding dot, providing plasma (ion) flow information. We present recent results provided by this platform and compare with simulations using HYDRA [Marinak, \textit{et al., }Phys. Plasmas \textbf{3}, 2070 (1996)]. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.