XUV Imaging and Spectral Measurements of Argon Z-Pinch Loads

Summary form only given. A number of diagnostics have been developed to measure the argon K-shell (~3 keV) X-ray emitting volume and spectrum. However, only ~20% of the load mass participates in the K-shell emission and less than 20% of the total emission falls in that energy band. We have made measurements to determine both the radial emission profile and the emitted spectrum in the XUV (0.1<E<1.5 keV), where the majority of the source emission occurs. We used a transmission grating (2dap190 nm) to disperse the emission and either a photodiode array (time-resolved) or a CCD camera (time-integrated) to record the radial emission profile and/or spectrum. A 2 degree grazing incidence gold mirror is used to collect emission from a ~3 mm axial length of the pinch and to discriminate against K-shell emission. The diameter of emission in the XUV is 1.5 to 2 times that found for the K-shell, consistent with inductance measurements of the imploded plasma. We also report on how the XUV spectrum time history varies with the initial load mass distribution