title: Benchmark measurements of the ionization balance of non-local-thermodynamic-equilibrium gold plasmas.
abstract: We present a series of benchmark measurements of the ionization balance of well-characterized gold plasmas with and without external radiation fields at electron densities near 10{21} cm{-3} and electron temperatures spanning the range 0.8 to 2.4 keV. We have analyzed time- and space-resolved M-shell gold emission spectra using a sophisticated collisional-radiative model with hybrid level structure, finding average ion charges Z ranging from 42 to 50. At the lower temperatures, the spectra exhibit significant sensitivity to external radiation fields and include emission features from complex N-shell ions. The measured spectra and inferred Z provide a stringent test for non-local-thermodynamic-equilibrium models of complex high-Z ions.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, L-473, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Heeter
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Fournier
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Foord
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Froula
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Mackinnon
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: B K F
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Young