Prismspect and pegasys: plasma simulation and experimental analysis codes

Summary form only given. PrismSPECT is a collisional-radiative spectral analysis code designed to simulate the atomic and radiative properties of LTE and non-LTE plasmas spanning a wide range of conditions. For a grid of user-specified plasma conditions, PrismSPECT computes spectral properties (emission and absorption), ionization fractions, atomic level populations, and line intensities and ratios. PrismSPECT supports calculations for plasmas irradiated with external radiation fields, and plasmas with non-Maxwellian electron distributions. In designing PrismSPECT, a strong emphasis has been placed on ease of use. It features a user-friendly, graphical interface for setting up problems, monitoring the progress of simulations, and viewing results. The collisional-radiative modeling in PrismSPECT includes: collisional ionization, recombination, excitation, deexcitation, photoionization, stimulated recombination, photoexcitation, stimulated emission, spontaneous decay, radiative recombination, dielectronic recombination, autoionization, and electron capture. Line profiles include Doppler, natural (incl. autoionization contributions), and Stark broadening. Energy levels, cross sections and rate coefficients are based on the ATBASE suite of codes, which incorporates NIST atomic level energies and oscillator strengths when available. PEGASYS is a software tool used in the analyses of experimental spectra. Operating on an imported experimental spectrum, PEGASYS supports continuum background subtraction, wavelength calibration, and fitting to spectral lines. In addition, PEGASYS computes the best fit of an experimental spectrum to PrismSPECT results, thereby finding temperatures and densities most representative of the plasma. Examples from these two interrelated applications will be discussed through their application to specific problems of interest in the areas of basic plasma physics and high-energy-density plasmas. Recent enhancements to PEGASYS, including line identi- ication and curve fitting, will be discussed