Method for detection and measurement of impurities in plasmas formed and compressed to magnetized target fusion conditions

Summary form only given. Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) is a means to compress plasmas to fusion conditions that uses magnetic fields to greatly reduce electron thermal conduction, thereby greatly reducing compression power density requirements. A principal technical risk is transport of impurities into the plasma during formation and compression. One way to detect and measure such impurities is to use time and space resolved vacuum ultra violet spectroscopy. An inexpensive way to attempt this is to use arrays of silicon PIN or similar detectors, with different filters and the use of spectrum deconvolution techniques for time resolved spectral resolution, and to use two or more such arrays with collimation for spatial resolution. Some analytic and numerical studies, using a proposed array of 12 different response functions via different filtered 250 micron thick Si PIN detectors, indicate that this approach is feasible during compression, and perhaps prior to compression.