Zeeman Polarization Spectroscopy on Gas Puff Z-Pinches

Zeeman Polarization Spectroscopy, or ZPS, on 1 MA gas-puff z-pinches in CO2 doped Argon is being used to determine the magnetic field distribution in the plasma during implosion. Light is collected parallel to the azimuthal magnetic field tangential to the gas puff implosion sheath. The light is split into left and right hand circularly polarized components and then focused into two linear fiber bundles and delivered to a 750 mm spectrometer. By assuming cylindrical symmetry and from the sharp thermal gradient localized Zeeman measurements are made. The peak wavelengths of the two polarizations can be resolved in our 1 MA experiments, and the magnetic field determined from their separation, despite Stark Broadening. Introducing dopants into the gas puff allows the use of additional emission lines, such as a Carbon IV or Oxygen VI doublet, to increase spatial resolution. This method was developed for z-pinch experiments on a 500 kA, 500 ns rise time generator as part of the Cornell/NNSA pulsed power center.