A Simple Method For The Time-Resolved Measurement Of Electron Temperature In A Z-pinch

A new method for measuring the electron temperature in a Z-pinch plasma with time resolution is presented here. PIN diodes fitted with different filters were employed to detect the X-radiation in separate energy bands. By comparison of the relative intensities of the X-ray pulses, a time-resolved measurement of the electron temperature can be obtained. The first step of the implementation of the method consists in convoluting a continuum spectrum with the filter-detector response to estimate individual signal strength. The second step is to calculate the ratio of the amplitudes of 2 differently-filtered diodes as a function of temperature to obtain a temperature calibration. When the computed calibration is then compared with the experimental signal ratio the temperature can be obtained. The temperatures measured using the present method were found to have peak values from 3 to 7 keV. The method only applies when the plasma is emitting continuum radiation