Proceedings Article | 2 November 2016
Eric Dutra, Aaron Covington, Timothy Darling, Roberto Mancini, Showera Haque, William Angermeier
KEYWORDS: Plasmas, Doppler effect, Spectroscopy, Temperature metrology, Visible radiation, Zeeman effect, Aluminum, Spectrometers, Magnetism, Security technologies
Visible spectroscopic techniques are often used in plasma experiments to measure B-field induced Zeeman splitting, electron densities via Stark broadening and temperatures from Doppler broadening. However, when electron densities and temperatures are sufficiently high, the broadening of the Stark and Doppler components can dominate the emission spectra and obscure the Zeeman component. In this research, we are developing a time-resolved multi-axial technique for measuring the Zeeman, Stark, and Doppler broadened line emission of dense magnetized plasmas for Z-pinch and Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) accelerators. The line emission is used to calculate the electron densities, temperatures, and B-fields. In parallel, we are developing a line-shape modeling code that incorporates the broadening effects due to Stark, Doppler, and Zeeman effects for dense magnetized plasma. Experiments conducted at the University of Nevada (Reno) at the Nevada Terawatt Facility (NTF) using the 1 MA Z-pinch (Zebra). The research explored the response of Al III doublet, 4p 2P3/2 to 4s 2S1/2 and 4p 2P1/2 to 4s 2S1/2 transitions. Optical light emitted from the pinch is fiber coupled to high-resolution spectrometers. The dual spectrometers are coupled to two high-speed visible streak cameras to capture time-resolved emission spectra from the experiment. The data reflects emission spectra from 100 ns before the current peak to 100 ns after the current peak, where the current peak is approximately the time at which the pinch occurs. The Al III doublet is used to measure Zeeman, Stark, and Doppler broadened emission. The line emission is then used to calculate the temperature, electron density, and B-fields. The measured quantities are used as initial parameters for the line shape code to simulate emission spectra and compare to experimental results. Future tests are planned to evaluate technique and modeling on other material wire array, gas puff, and DPF platforms.
This work was done by National Security Technologies, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25946 with the U.S. Department of Energy and supported by the Site-Directed Research and Development Program. DOE/NV/25946--2749.
