Improved S/XB Measurements on the Sheared-Flow-Stabilized Z-Pinches at Zap Energy

Electrode erosion rates on the Fusion Z Pinch Experiment (FuZE) device at Zap Energy, which makes use of sheared-flow stabilization, are important to know for determination of the component lifetime. An in situ erosion measurement using the ionizations per photon (S/XB) technique is presented with an updated telescope design. In this work, an ultraviolet spectrometer coupled to an in-house built telescope via a multi-cord fiber optic cable is used to measure the sputtering across the electrode faces. The small size of the pinch (~1 mm radius) makes it important to understand where the telescope is pointed with respect to the electrode attachment location and the telescope design allows for sub mm scanning across the surface. The design, calibration, and experimental setup is discussed and comparison to the calculated physical sputtering yields is also presented.