Spectroscopic temperature measurements of non-equilibrium plasmas

The characterization of laser-produced plasmas has required the application of spectroscopic techniques to non-standard conditions where kinetics models have not been extensively tested. The plasmas are produced by the Nova laser for the study of inertial confinement fusion, can be mm in size, and evolve on sub-nanosecond time scales. These targets typically achieve electron temperatures from 2-4 keV and electron densities of 10{sup 20}-10{sup 22} cm{sup {minus}3}. The authors have measured the electron temperature of two types of targets: bags of gas and hohlraums, Au cylinders with laser entrance holes in the flat ends. By comparing data from different targets, they examine the time-dependence of spectroscopic plasma diagnostics