Spatio-temporal ion temperature and velocity measurements in a Z pinch using fast-framing spectroscopy

Ion Doppler Spectroscopy (IDS) is a diagnostic technique that measures plasma ion temperature and velocity without perturbing the plasma with a physical probe. The ZaP-HD Flow Z-Pinch Experiment at the University of Washington uses this technique to resolve radial temperature and velocity profiles of a Z-pinch plasma. The pinch lifetime is ∼100 µs; therefore, diagnostics capable of sub-microsecond resolution are required to measure the evolution of temperature and velocity profiles. The previous IDS diagnostic system was only capable of collecting a single measurement during a plasma pulse. An improved system has been developed to measure the radially resolved ion temperature and velocity for the entire Z-pinch lifetime. A Kirana 05M ultra-fast framing camera and Specialized Imaging lens ultraviolet intensifier are used to record up to 100 spectra per plasma pulse. The temperature is computed from Doppler broadening of the carbon-III (229.687 nm) impurity ion radiation, and the velocity is computed from the Doppler shift of carbon-III. Measurements are able to resolve the evolution of the ion temperature and velocity over the course of a plasma pulse. The diagnostic has significantly reduced the number of pulses required and provides a more coherent measurement of plasma dynamics than the previous system.