Measurement of the polarization shifts in hot and dense aluminum plasma

The profiles and positions of the aluminum Lyman series members α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ and η emitted from a laser-generated, constrained-flow plasma were measured using a vertical-dispersion x-ray spectrometer. The shifts of the spatially-resolved emission profiles were identified and correlated with the plasma densities inferred from numerical simulation of the experiment. The red shifts observed for transitions γ - η are consistent with theoretical predictions of the line shifts in hot dense plasmas. This is the first comprehensive measurement of the behavior of this effect as a function of plasma density and the principal quantum number of the initial state.