An experimental platform for creating white dwarf photospheres in the laboratory: Preliminary results

We present the current status of the White Dwarf Photosphere Experiment at the Z Pulsed Power Facility at Sandia National Laboratories. This experiment has evolved into a unique platform for simultaneously measuring emission, absorption, and back-lighter continua spectra of plasmas with white dwarf (WD) photospheric compositions and conditions (Te∼1 eV, ne∼1016–1018e/cm3); our current experiments involve line profile measurements of hydrogen—corresponding to the most common surface composition in white dwarf stars, with future experiments planned for helium, carbon, and oxygen. These profiles will test line broadening theories used in white dwarf model atmospheres to infer the fundamental parameters (e.g., effective temperature and mass) of thousands of WDs. This experiment uses the large amount of x-rays generated from a z-pinch dynamic hohlraum to radiatively drive plasma formation in a gas cell. We reach significantly higher densities than the landmark study of Wiese et al. (1972), thereby putting competing line broadening theories to the test in a regime where their predictions strongly diverge. The simultaneous measurement of emission, absorption, and back-lighter continua in macroscopic plasmas represents a significant advance relative to hydrogen line profile experiments of the past.