Measurements of Z-pinch plasma parameters with crystal spectroscopy on PBFAZ and SATURN

Summary form only given. We have used a spatially-resolved time-integrated convex crystal spectrometer to measure spectra above 1 keV on the pulsed power machines PBFAZ and SATURN. We observe a tungsten M absorption edge from tungsten Z-pinches on PBFAZ. From the energy shift and depth of the edge we infer the Z-pinch halo plasma electron temperature and rho*r to be 150 eV and 0.00018 g/sq cm. The slope of the tungsten spectrum indicates a 700 eV core electron temperature on PBFAZ, up from a 350 eV slope measured on the smaller accelerator SATURN. In contrast to tungsten pinches on SATURN, for an array consisting of aluminum wires coated with potassium chloride, we have measured the core electron temperature by three independent techniques to be 1200 eV. These three techniques are the aluminum K-shell free-bound continuum slope, the ratio of isoelectronic helium-alpha lines in potassium and chlorine, and the ratio or Lyman to helium alpha in chlorine.