Super-transition-array calculations for synthetic spectra and opacity of high-density, high-temperature germanium plasmas

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the super-transition-array (STA) model for calculating the spectra and opacity of high-density, high-temperature germanium plasmas, comparing results with experimental data and other theoretical models.

Contribution

It demonstrates the viability of STA for modeling plasma spectra and opacity, highlighting its strengths and limitations in high-density plasma conditions.

Findings

STA results fit experimental spectra reasonably well

Good agreement between STA and hybrid LTE opacity calculations

Disparities at ~1.7 keV suggest non-LTE effects and spatial gradients influence accuracy

Abstract

The synthetic emission spectra and opacity of high-density, high-temperature germanium (Z=32) plasma from super-transition-array (STA) calculations are presented. The viability of the STA model, which is based on a statistical superconfigurations accounting approach for calculating the atomic and radiative properties, is examined by comparing and contrasting its results against the available experimental data and other theoretical calculations. First, we focus on the emission data. To model the data, the Eulerian radiation-hydrodynamics code FastRad3D is used in conjunction with STA to obtain the STA-required inputs, namely, the time-dependent temperature and density profiles of the Ge plasmas. Consequently, we find that STA results fit the experimental spectrum [High Energy Density Phys., 6 (2010) 105] reasonably well. However, careful comparison between experimental and theoretical results in the photon-energy regions of ~ 1.7 keV shows some degrees of disparity between the two. This may be due to the non-LTE effects and the presence of spatial gradients in the sample. Limitations of STA to model the experimental spectrum precisely is expected and underscoring the difficulty of the present attempts as the model assumed local thermodynamics equilibrium population dynamics. Second, we examine the STA calculated multi-frequency opacities, ionized population fraction and average ionization for a broad range of Ge plasma conditions. Comparing with a hybrid LTE opacity code which combines the statistical super-transition-array and fine-structure methods [High Energy Density Phys., 7 (2011) 234], impressively good agreement is found between the two calculations.