Study of opacity effects on line radiation from pellet implosions

Glass microballoons filled with mixtures of Argon and Neon were imploded using the University of Rochester 24-beam Omega Laser system. Experimentally observed Lyman-series X-ray lines of Ar(+17) and Ar(+16) were analyzed to determine plasma core parameters and the effects of opacity on spectroscopic diagnostics. The helium like satellites to the Lyman (ALPHA) resonance line of Ar(+17) and lilthium-like satellites of the Lyman (ALPHA) resonance line of Ar(+16) were resolved using an iterative peak finding code. Measured satellite line ratios were compared to new theoretical calculations in order to diagnose electron density. These calculations use a rate equation model for the satellite level populations and include the effects of autoionization, collisional mixing inner shell excitation, and collisional ionization (and the respective inverse processes). Densities inferred in this manner from satellite line ratios are compared with densities obtained from the Stark and opacity broadening analysis.