Demonstration of x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy as a sensitive temperature diagnostic for high-energy-density physics experiments.

Abstract

We present the use of x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XFS) to a sensitive temperature diagnostic in shocked foams at temperatures of 30-75 eV. Cobalt-doped foams were shock compressed using a planar drive at the OMEGA laser facility and photo-pumped with a Zn Heα x-ray source. Analysis of the resulting cobalt Kβ x-ray fluorescence spectra using collisional radiative codes allows the temperature to be determined in the shocked foams. This method provides a sensitive and robust technique to determine temperatures in high-energy-density physics experiments in the tens of electronvolts temperature range. In these experiments, we find that radiation hydrodynamic simulations predict a lower temperature in the shocked foams compared to analysis of the XFS data using collisional radiative models. Although additional experiments with an independent temperature diagnostic to absolutely calibrate XFS spectra for these conditions will be required to resolve this discrepancy, these results demonstrate the excellent temperature sensitivity of XFS spectra for high-energy-density physics experiments.