Time and space resolved vacuum-ultraviolet spectroscopy of an argon gas-puff <i>Z</i> pinch

Abstract

Time and radially resolved vacuum-ultraviolet spectra from an argon gas-puff Z pinch have been obtained using a grazing incidence spectrometer with gated microchannel plates curved to the Rowland circle. Most of the 50–300-Å radiation is emitted from a dense core (r≊0.4 mm, ne≳1019 cm−3, Te≊150 eV) which forms when the plasma assembles on the axis.