Elliptical spectrometer for the study of x-pinch physics through absorption spectroscopy

We discuss here the use of the x-pinch x-ray source together with an elliptical crystal spectrometer for determining plasma conditions in high energy density plasmas. The use of absorption spectroscopic techniques for the study of plasma conditions is often restricted to diagnosing non-radiating plasma samples. This is done to avoid radiation emitted by the samples being recorded along with the probing radiation. This can easily obscure or conceal the features of the absorption spectrum and introduce substantial error in inferred conditions.