The Effect of Time-Dependent Level Kinetics in a 1–D MHD Simulation of an Argon Gas Z-Pinch Implosion

The Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories has produced bright x-ray sources with photon energies in the 1–10 keV range by imploding gas puff or wire array loads. In particular, argon gas puff implosions on the Z machine have produced argon K-shell >300 kJ [1]. The 2-D MHD Mach2+ Tcre code reproduced the measured K-shell powers, yields, and emission region. Also, the ratio of the Lya to the Hea plus IC lines from the simulation had good agreement to the experiment after peak power. Yet, those simulation had higher line ratios prior to the peak. The authors attributed this difference to 3-D effects or on the implicit assumption of steady-state kinetics [2]. This presentation will explore the effect of time-dependent atomic level kinetics using the NRL DZAPP code. DZAPP is a coupled 1-D MHD, non-LTE atomic kinetics, and radiation transport code that incorporates a transmission line to drive the load. Simulations using steady-state and time-dependent non-LTE level kinetics will be presented and compared with experimental line ratios.