OPACITY MEASUREMENT AND THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION OF HOT SILICON PLASMA

Abstract

ABSTRACT We report on opacity measurements of a silicon (Si) plasma at a temperature of (72 ± 5) eV and a density of (6.0 ± 1.2) mg cm −3 in the photon energy range of 1790–1880 eV. A 23 μ g cm −2 Si foil tamped by 50 μ g cm −2 CH layers on each side was heated to a hot-dense plasma state by X-ray radiation emitted from a D-shaped gold cavity that was irradiated by intense lasers. Absorption lines of 1 s − 2 p transitions of Si xiii to Si ix ions have been measured using point-projection spectroscopy. The transmission spectrum of the silicon plasma was determined by comparing the light passing through the plasma to the light from the same shot passing by the plasma. The density of the Si plasma was determined experimentally by side-on radiography and the temperature was estimated from the radiation flux data. Radiative hydrodynamic simulations were performed to obtain the temporal evolutions of the density and temperature of the Si plasma. The experimentally obtained transmission spectra of the Si sample plasma have been reproduced using a detailed term account model with the local thermodynamic equilibrium approximation. The energy levels, oscillator strengths and photoionization cross-sections used in the calculation were generated by the flexible atomic code. The experimental transmission spectrum was compared with the theoretical calculation and good agreement was found. The present experimental spectrum and theoretical calculation were also compared with the new opacities available in the Los Alamos OPLIB database.