Inner-shell Radiation Properties of Z-pinch Plasmas with Astrophysically Relevant Conditions

Plasma comprises ≳95% of mass in the observable universe and prominently exists in thermonuclear environments. In recent years, plasma science has grown from purely observational to experimentally-controlled in laboratory settings. The significance of laboratory-produced plasmas is underscored by their application to inertial confinement fusion – where they are leading candidates for clean, sustainable energy – and laboratory astrophysics research, since they produce radiation from environments with astrophysically relevant conditions. This talk explores experimental and theoretical methods for the study of a laboratory magnetically-confined plasma, known as a ‘Z-pinch’. Experimental techniques consider pulsed-power X-pinch wire load types and relevant diagnostics used to measure and image the plasma sources. Theoretical methods include computational collisional-radiative atomic modeling of spectroscopic radiation emitted from inner-shell (n=1) plasma ions as well as intensity analysis to investigate plasma opacity. Two different experimental load geometries are presented and specific effects on plasma production and radiation properties are discussed. The relevance of this study as well as other Z-pinch examples to laboratory astrophysical research are considered.