title: Use of emission-line intensities for a self-consistent determination of the particle densities in a transient plasma.
abstract: A method for a self-consistent determination of the time history of the electron density, electron temperature, and ionic charge-state composition in a multicomponent plasma, using time-dependent measurements and calculations of absolute emission-line intensities, is presented. The method is applied for studying the properties of an imploding gas-puff Z-pinch plasma that contains several oxygen ions up to the fifth ionization stage. Furthermore, by using intensity ratios of lines from different ion species, the electron temperature was determined with a much improved accuracy, in comparison to previous spectroscopic studies of the same plasma. The ion-density history obtained, together with the known time-dependent radial boundaries of the plasma shell, allowed for tracking the rise in time of the mass swept by the magnetic field during the implosion.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gregorian
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Bernshtam
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kroupp
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Davara
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maron