Modeling Kα emission with Spect3D for Short-Pulse Laser Experiments

Cold Kα and Kβ emission provides a diagnostic for hot electron distributions produced in short pulse laser experiments. Spect3D is able to simulate high-resolution spectra for plasmas containing arbitrary distributions of hot electrons, however the calculations can become prohibitively expensive for plasmas requiring complex atomic data and variable temperatures and densities. To significantly increase calculation speed, it is desirable to use pre-configured emissivity/opacity tables for hot electron conditions, rather than calculating on the fly. However, to tabulate results for arbitrary hot electron energy distributions, a general method must be found to describe arbitrary energy distributions with an analytic function of just a few parameters. We will present a set of PrismSPECT and Spect3D results validating the replacement of hot electron distributions with a Gaussian function determined by each hot electron distribution. Tests are performed on particle in cell data sets produced by the LSP software.