Hydrodynamics of a stagnating ring-puff plasma

The dynamics of an argon ring-puff plasma stagnating on a planar iron target is investigated theoretically and numerically. At stagnation, the high velocity argon ring-puff converts much of its kinetic energy to thermal and ionization energy which is then converted to radiation. The intensity, spectra, and pulselength of the emitted radiation produce an interesting x-ray radiation source with a potentially large number of applications. We present the results of our simulations and characterize the radiation source. During the plasma expansion phase population inversions were found in the hydrogen-like ionization stage of argon; their significance is discussed.