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Notes: Present-day Z-pinch experiments generate 200 TW peak power, 5–10 ns duration x-ray bursts that provide new possibilities to advance radiation science. The experiments support both the underlying atomic and plasma physics, as well as inertial confinement fusion and astrophysics applications. A typical configuration consists of a sample located 1–10 cm away from the pinch, where it is heated to 10–100 eV temperatures by the pinch radiation. The spectrally-resolved sample-plasma absorption is measured by aiming x-ray spectrographs through the sample at the pinch. The pinch plasma thus both heats the sample and serves as a backlighter. Opacity measurements with this source are promising because of the large sample size, the relatively long radiation duration, and the possibility to measure opacities at temperatures above 100 eV. Initial opacity experiments are under way with CH-tamped NaBr foil samples. The Na serves as a thermometer and absorption spectra are recorded to determine the opacity of Br with a partially-filled M-shell. The large sample size and brightness of the Z pinch as a backlighter are also exploited in a novel method measuring re-emission from radiation-heated gold plasmas. The method uses a CH-tamped layered foil with Al+MgF2 facing the radiation source. A gold backing layer that covers a portion of the foil absorbs radiation from the source and provides re-emission that further heats the Al+MgF2. The Al and Mg heating is measured using space-resolved Kα absorption spectroscopy and the difference between the two regions enables a determination of the gold re-emission. Measurements are also performed at lower densities where photoionization is expected to dominate over collisions. Absorption spectra have been obtained for both Ne-like Fe and He-like Ne, confirming production of the relevant charge states needed to benchmark atomic kinetics models. Refinement of the methods described here is in progress to address multiple issues for radiation science. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: X-ray powers on the order of 10 TW over an area of 4.5 mm2 are produced in the axial direction from the compression of a low-density foam target centered within a z-pinch on the Z generator.1 The x rays from this source are used for high-energy–density physics experiments, including the heating of hohlraums for inertial confinements fusion studies.2 In this article, detailed characteristics of this radiation source measured using an upgraded axial-radiation-diagnostic suite3 together with other on- and off-axis diagnostics are summarized and discussed in terms of Eulerian and Lagrangian radiation–magnetohydrodynamic code simulations. The source, characterized here, employs a nested array of 10-mm-long tungsten wires, at radii of 20 and 10 mm, having a total masses of 2 and 1 mg, and wire numbers of 240 and 120, respectively. The target is a 14 mg/cc CH2 foam cylinder of 5 mm diameter. The codes take into account the development of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability in the r–z plane, and provide integrated calculations of the implosion together with the x-ray generation. The radiation exiting the imploding target through the 4.5 mm2 aperture is measured primarily by the axial diagnostic suite that now includes diagnostics at an angle of ∼30° to the z axis. The near on-axis diagnostics include: (1) a seven-element filtered silicon-diode array,4 (2) a five-element filtered x-ray diffraction (XRD) array,5 (3) a six-element filtered PCD array,6 (4) a three-element bolometer,7 (5) time-resolved and time-integrating crystal spectrometers, and (6) two fast-framing x-ray pinhole cameras having 11 frames each. The filtered silicon diodes, XRDs, and PCDs are sensitive to 1–200, 140–2300, and 1000–4000 eV x rays, respectively. They (1) establish the magnitude of the prepluse generated during the run in of the imploding wire arrays, (2) measure the Planckian nature of the dominant thermal, and (3) nonthermal component of the emission. The bolometers and XRDs mounted on the near-normal and 30° LOS (line-of-sight) measure the total power and check the Lambertian nature of the emission. Additionally, a suite of filtered fast-framing x-ray pinhole cameras and silicon-diode arrays behind a transmission grating, mounted on LOSs nearly normal to the z axis, quantify the plasma plume exiting the aperture. The hard bremsstrahlung generated is estimated with both on- and off-axis shielded scintillator photomultiplier diagnostics. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: The test for the degree of phosphorus (P) saturation (DPS) of soils is used in northwest Europe to estimate the potential of P loss from soil to water. It expresses the historic sorption of P by soil as a percentage of the soil's P sorption capacity (PSC), which is taken to be α (Alox + Feox), where Alox and Feox are the amounts of aluminium and iron extracted by a single extraction of oxalate. All quantities are measured as mmol kg soil−1, and a value of 0.5 is commonly used for the scaling factor α in this equation. Historic or previously sorbed P is taken to be the quantity of P extracted by oxalate (Pox) so that DPS = Pox/PSC.The relation between PSC and Alox, Feox and Pox was determined for 37 soil samples from Northern Ireland with relatively large clay and organic matter contents. Sorption of P, measured over 252 days, was strongly correlated with the amounts of Alox and Feox extracted, but there was also a negative correlation with Pox. When PSC was calculated as the sum of the measured sorption after 252 days and Pox, the multiple regression of PSC on Alox and Feox gave the equation PSC = 36.6 + 0.61 Alox+ 0.31 Feox with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.92. The regression intercept of 36.6 was significantly greater than zero. The 95% confidence limits for the regression coefficients of Alox and Feox did not overlap, indicating a significantly larger regression coefficient of P sorption on Alox than on Feox. When loss on ignition was employed as an additional variable in the multiple regression of PSC on Alox and Feox, it was positively correlated with PSC. Although the regression coefficient for loss on ignition was statistically significant (P 〈 0.001), the impact of this variable was small as its inclusion in the multiple regression increased R2 by only 0.028. Values of P sorption measured over 252 days were on average 2.75 (range 2.0–3.8) times greater than an overnight index of P sorption. Measures of DPS were less well correlated with water-soluble P than either the Olsen or Morgan tests for P in soil.

Notes: The impedance of a diode having an annular cathode and indented anode that terminates a coaxial MITL (magnetically insulated transmission line) is measured and compared with a semiempirical model developed from calculations made using the magic code. The measurements were made on the 16-Ω electron accelerator HELIA (high-energy linear induction accelerator) operating at 3 MV. The model agrees with the measurements within the 10% measuring error and shows that the diode operates in either a load- or line-dominated regime depending on AK (anode-cathode) gap spacing. In the load-dominated regime, which corresponds to small AK gaps, the diode impedance is controlled by an effective anode-cathode gap, and the flow is approximately axial. In the line-dominated regime, which corresponds to large AK gaps, the impedance is independent of the AK gap and corresponds to the impedance associated with the minimum current solution of the MITL, with the flow becoming more radial as the AK gap is increased.

Notes: The relationship between hydrodynamics and radiative energy loss from a gas puff Z pinch was studied using helium, krypton, and a helium–krypton mixture. The results show that radiation cooling enables the magnetic field to compress the plasma to a higher electron density and a smaller final radius. The data are consistent with a simple model describing the thermalization of the plasma on the axis of the pinch. The spectrum of the krypton radiation from the mixture was harder than from the pure krypton pinch. This may be important for application of the Z pinch as a radiation source.

Notes: Pin plasma sources are used as x-ray backlights for an Al plasma produced by focusing 1.06-μm laser light to irradiances of 1012 W/cm−2. Spatially resolved absorption features of the helium- like states of ionization of the plasma allow ground-state densities of the helium and hydrogenlike stages to be measured. Comparison with simulations indicates the need for realistic opacity effects to produce a high enough state of ionization for the plasma temperature. Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48.

Notes: We have measured time-resolved visible spectra emitted from a plasma formed when the output from a dye laser irradiates solid lithium. Such a plasma has potential as a source of lithium ions for ion-driven inertial confinement fusion, and it also provides a useful source for developing diagnostics. The laser delivered 0.5 J onto a 2–7-mm-diam spot, with a 900-ns pulse length. Experiments were performed with the wavelength tuned to the Li i 2s–2p resonance line at 6708 A(ring) and off resonance at 6728 A(ring). The target was a 500–1000-A(ring)-thick Li film, vacuum evaporated in situ onto a substrate. The light from the plasma was coupled into the entrance slit of a 1-m Czerny–Turner spectrograph, and the output from the spectrograph was focused onto the input slit of a streak camera. The electron density was obtained from Stark-broadened widths of Li i 2p–4d, 2p–5d, and 2p–4s, and H i 2p–4d. An irradiance of 2×106 W/cm2 at 6708 A(ring) resulted in a peak electron density of 3.9×1017 cm−3. The density decreased at lower irradiance, with an intensity threshold of 5×105 W/cm2 for producing an ionized plasma. The threshold for producing a plasma was higher with the laser tuned off resonance, although high-density lithium plasmas could still be formed at relatively low laser irradiance.

Notes: A review of the diagnostics used at Sandia National Laboratories to measure the parameters of intense proton and lithium beams generated on the PBFA-II accelerator will be presented. These diagnostics consist of several types, namely: Kα x-ray pinhole cameras, a multiframe dE/dx ion pinhole camera, a p-i-n array ion pinhole camera, Thomson parabola spectrographs, a Rutherford magnetic spectrograph, plasma visible spectroscopy, and several nuclear activation diagnostics. These components, when taken together, enable a rather thorough description of the 5-MV, 10-TW ion beams presently being produced. A unique feature of these diagnostics is that they are capable of operating in hard (several MeV) x-ray bremsstrahlung backgrounds of some 109–1010 rad/s. Details of each diagnostic, its integration, data reduction procedures, and recent PBFA-II data will be discussed.

Notes: We have developed a new ion pinhole camera to obtain energy density profiles of a focused multiterawatt ion beam as a function of ion energy. Beam ions that are elastically scattered from a thin gold foil are imaged through six baffled pinholes onto six separate areas of a sheet of CR-39 nuclear track detector. Each of the areas is covered by an aluminum range filter and records an image with a different lower bound on the ion energy. Subtracting images with adjacent cutoff energies results in images with upper and lower bounds on the ion energy. Ion images are read from the CR-39 with VERA, a fully automatic, image-processor-based nuclear track counting system. Images of the Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator-II (PBFA-II) proton beam have been obtained and show that the beam has been focused to achieve a horizontal FWHM of 5.7 mm and has delivered 9 kJ/cm2 to a target.

Notes: We report on the construction and testing of a 100-ps framing camera based on a gated microchannel plate. The gating is obtained by applying a fast voltage pulse directly across the microchannel plate detector. An infinite ground-plane microstrip transmission-line configuration is used. We have measured the transit time for electrons through the microchannel plate to be 150±35 ps and the rise and fall times of the detector to be less than 100 ps. The time resolution computed using the experimentally measured edge response times is less than 100 ps.