Development of a test bed plasma and diagnostic methods for detailed K-shell spectroscopy

The emission spectrum from a plasma is often used to extract information on the hydrodynamic, radiative and atomic processes which occur. As these processes are coupled, detailed interpretation of spectroscopic data is often complex and uncertain. We present an experiment and modelling study of a `simple' hydrogen and helium-like plasma. The target and laser geometry were designed to minimise spatial gradients transverse to the plasma flow. The plasma was spatially and temporally diagnosed using Thomson scattering, X-ray imaging and spectroscopic measurements. The combination of the optical and X-ray results constrains the numerical modelling to provide a more reliable plasma diagnostic. This is essential for the interpretation of high-resolution measurements and of more complex, non 1-dimensional plasmas.