Time and space resolved measurements of visible-light and soft x-ray emission from foam z-pinch plasmas and implosions

We have developed a time-resolved imaging capability to make measurements of the emission profile or spot size for low density foam z-pinch targets on the Saturn accelerator. By lens-coupling visible emission from the z-pinch target to an array of fiber optics, we obtained an emission profile as a function of time with radial resolution of 200 μm. To measure the emission at temperatures greater than ≈40 eV, x rays from the source were slit-imaged or pinhole-imaged onto a scintillator. The emission was filtered to select 50–80, 200–280, and 400–450 eV x rays. Nonuniformities were observed in both visible and x-ray emissions for solid foam targets. For wire array on foam targets, on-axis x-ray emission-spot implosion velocities calculated for the three spectral regions differed from the mass-implosion velocity. We describe the diagnostics, the image-unfold process, and results from the instrument for both visible and x-ray measurements.