Radiative properties of puffed-gas mixtures

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Abstract
The radiative yield of dense, high-temperature plasma mixtures has been studied theoretically for conditions typically attained in puffed-gas implosions from high-voltage pulse power generators. The mixtures are characterized using an equilibrium ionization/radiation model which calculates the self-consistent state density populations of detailed level configurations by solving the complete set of atomic rate equations. In order to accurately model the quantitative line emission as well as the radiation spectrum from the plasma mixtures, detailed atomic models of L- and K-shell ion level structure and collisional processes in neon, argon, and krypton are employed; these models are described in detail. Specific mixtures reported on include neon/argon, argon/krypton, helium/argon, and helium/krypton. They are considered as compressed stationary plasmas, radiating at constant temperature and density (the time-history of the implosion dynamics is neglected in this report). While no power amplification is detected in the optically thin approximation via the various mixtures, broadband spectral enhancement is demonstrated using various constituents.