Characterization of Plasma Properties and Turbulence in Ne and Ar Gas-Puff Z-Pinch Implosions

This study aims to better understand the non-thermal component of ion kinetic energy in gas-puff Z-pinch implosions produced by the COBRA pulser (1 MA, 220 ns). It has been shown using plasma spectroscopy that close to stagnation time, there is a substantial non-thermal kinetic energy component [1], [2]. Spectroscopic analysis reveals that turbulence in the plasma implosion provides a physically reasonable description. Moreover, the assumption of turbulent flow improves the analysis of Thomson scattering data as described in detail in Ref [3]. Both Ref [3] and a recently published study [4] found that the non-thermal kinetic energy term appears to be linked to turbulence because it is inconsistent with laminar velocity gradients in the implosion.