Experimental benchmark for an improved simulation of absolute soft-x-ray emission from polystyrene targets irradiated with the Nike laser.
Absolutely calibrated, time-resolved spectral intensity measurements of soft-x-ray emission (hnu approximately 0.1-1.0 keV) from laser-irradiated polystyrene targets are compared to radiation-hydrodynamic simulations that include our new postprocessor, Virtual Spectro. This new capability allows a unified, detailed treatment of atomic physics and radiative transfer in nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium conditions for simple spectra from low-Z materials as well as complex spectra from high-Z materials. The excellent agreement (within a factor of approximately 1.5) demonstrates the powerful predictive capability of the codes for the complex conditions in the ablating plasma. A comparison to data with high spectral resolution (E/deltaE approximately 1000) emphasizes the importance of including radiation coupling in the quantitative simulation of emission spectra.
Weaver
J L
JL
Plasma Physics Division, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375, USA.
Busquet
M
M
Colombant
D G
DG
Mostovych
A N
AN
Feldman
U
U
Klapisch
M
M
Seely
J F
JF
Brown
C
C
Holland
G
G