K-shell line ratios as a powerful constraint on plasma conditions in MagLIF experiments

When interpreting trends in MagLIF experiments, we wish to know the relationship between stagnation conditions, performance, and morphology. Typically, stagnation conditions are inferred through a combination of imaging, nTOF, and neutron and x-ray yield measurements. Unfortunately, the observed morphology can strongly bias our inference of stagnation conditions which depends on an understanding of the fuel volume. The volume is constrained by 2D x-ray emission images, which tend to overestimate the neutron producing volume. We show here how the incorporation of K-shell line ratios of Fe ions that are mixed into the fuel into a Bayesian analysis of stagnation that self-consistently includes imaging as well as x-ray and neutron yields, can dramatically improve our understanding of stagnation conditions. The reason for this improvement is that K-shell line ratios are relatively insensitive to the fuel structure, providing an independent constraint on important quantities such as pressure. This improved accuracy leads to a higher fidelity understanding of the observed performance trends.