Quick Shot
Examination of Energy Transfer Dynamics in Nonequilibrium Systems
July 23, 2018
Collin Stillman (Ph.D. 2018) is shown configuring a Hall-geometry crystal spectrometer that he built during his graduate work to measure thermal x-ray emission from dense, high-temperature plasmas created by rapidly heating solid matter with high-intensity laser pulses. The Hall geometry employs a conically curved crystal to spectrally disperse and focus x rays emitted by the plasma along the input slit of an ultrafast streak camera, pictured in the background. The temporally and spectrally resolved x-ray data are studied to infer the atomic, radiative, and material properties of hot dense matter at conditions similar to those of the solar interior. The measurements show how atomic energy levels are modified in dense plasmas in order to understand energy transfer dynamics in nonequilibrium systems.