A model is developed that permits the calculation of the radiation emitted by complex or highly charged ions in a plasma. The model is based on the usual separation of the plasma-emitter interaction into the homogeneous broadening effects of the fast electrons and the inhomogeneous broadening arising from slow ions. For plasma conditions where the ion motion can be neglected, the spectrum is the usual static line shape. To account for ion dynamics, the frequency-fluctuation model is introduced by decomposing the line shape of each radiative transition into a sum of radiative channels that are associated with the smallest observable inhomogeneities that form the static profile. The fluctuations of the ion microfield, the ion dynamics effect, is modeled by an exchange process between the static radiative channels. This results in both a smoothing and an overall coalescence of the radiative channels and depends strongly on an averaged characteristic fluctuation rate associated with the dynamics of the interaction of the local plasma microfield with the ion. This rate is formally related to the double-time field-field correlation function behavior. This stochastic model of the observed frequency fluctuations permits fast and accurate calculations of the emitted spectral profiles, including ion dynamics emitted by complex ions in a wide range of plasma conditions.

A model for calculating the profile of spectral lines emitted by multielectron emitters in a hot plasma is described. The Stark broadening is included in the model by using the static ion approximation and an impact approximation for the electrons. The atomic data required for the line-shape calculation are extracted from an atomic structure code and prepared as data necessary for the excited and ground levels of the radiative transition. For the cases where electron broadening is much smaller than the average ionic Stark shift, an approximation is proposed to obtain rapidly a diagonal form of the evolution operator for the emitter. Line shapes of lithiumlike and berylliumlike ions have been calculated under the conditions of recent experiments performed in laser-produced plasmas.

Powerful nanosecond laser-plasma processes are explored to generate discharge currents of a few 100 kA in coil targets, yielding magnetostatic fields (B-fields) in excess of 0.5 kT. The quasi-static currents are provided from hot electron ejection from the laser-irradiated surface. According to our model, which describes the evolution of the discharge current, the major control parameter is the laser irradiance $I_{\text{las}}{\lambda }_{\text{las}}^2$ . The space-time evolution of the B-fields is experimentally characterized by high-frequency bandwidth B-dot probes and proton-deflectometry measurements. The magnetic pulses, of ns-scale, are long enough to magnetize secondary targets through resistive diffusion. We applied it in experiments of laser-generated relativistic electron transport through solid dielectric targets, yielding an unprecedented 5-fold enhancement of the energy-density flux at 60 μm depth, compared to unmagnetized transport conditions. These studies pave the ground for magnetized high-energy density physics investigations, related to laser-generated secondary sources of radiation and/or high-energy particles and their transport, to high-gain fusion energy schemes, and to laboratory astrophysics.

We describe an experimental investigation, a detailed analysis of the Ar XVII ${1s}^2{}^{1}S–1s3p{}^{1}P$ (Heβ) line shape formed in a high-energy-density implosion, and report on one-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of the implosion. In this experiment trace quantities of argon are doped into a lower-$Z$ gas-filled core of a plastic microsphere. The dopant level is controlled to ensure that the Heβ transition is optically thin and easily observable. Then the observed line shape is used to derive electron temperatures ${(T}_e)$ and electron densities ${(n}_e).\mathrm{}$ The high-energy density plasma, with $T_e$ approaching 1 keV and $n_e{=10\mathrm{}}^{24}{\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{-}3},$ is created by placing the microsphere in a gold cylindrical enclosure, the interior of which is directly irradiated by a high-energy laser; the x rays produced by this laser-gold interaction indirectly implode the microsphere. Central to the interpretation of the hydrodynamics of the implosions is the characterization and understanding of the formation of these plasmas. To develop an understanding of the plasma and its temporal evolution, time-resolved $T_e$ and $n_e$ measurements are extracted using techniques that are independent of the plasma hydrodynamics. Comparing spectroscopic diagnostics with measurements derived from other diagnostic methods, we find the spectroscopic measurements to be reliable and further we find that the experiment-to-experiment comparison shows that these implosions are reproducible.

A very fast method to account for charged particle dynamics effects in calculations of spectral line shape emitted by plasmas is presented. This method is based on a formulation of the frequency fluctuation model (FFM), which provides an expression of the dynamic line shape as a functional of the static distribution of frequencies. Thus, the main numerical work rests on the calculation of the quasistatic Stark profile. This method for taking into account ion dynamics allows a very fast and accurate calculation of Stark broadening of atomic hydrogen high-n series emission lines. It is not limited to hydrogen spectra. Results on helium-$\beta${} and Lyman-$\alpha${} lines emitted by argon in microballoon implosion experiment conditions compared with experimental data and simulation results are also presented. The present approach reduces the computer time by more than 2 orders of magnitude as compared with the original FFM with an improvement of the calculation precision, and it opens broad possibilities for its application in spectral line-shape codes.