Absorption spectroscopy of wire-array plasma at the non-radiative stage

Absorption spectroscopy was applied to 1 MA wire-array Z-pinches. The 50 TW Leopard laser was coupled with the Zebra generator for x-ray backlighting of wire arrays. Wire-array plasmas were investigated at the ablation and implosion stages. Broadband x-ray radiation from a laser produced Sm plasma was used to backlight Al star wire arrays in the range of 7-9 {\AA}. Two time-integrated x-ray conical spectrometers recorded reference and main spectra. The backlighting radiation was separated from the powerful Z-pinch x-ray burst by collimators. A comparison of the backlighting radiation spectra that passed through the plasma with reference spectra indicates absorption lines in the range of 8.2-8.4 {\AA}. A plasma density profile was simulated with a 3D resistive MHD code. Simulations with atomic kinetics models derived an electron temperature of Al wire-array plasma.