SPECT3D Synthetic Self-Emission X-Ray Imaging of CESZAR Gas-Puff Z-Pinch FLASH Simulations*

We present SPECT3D synthetic x-ray images of the CESZAR gas-puff z-pinch simulations generated with FLASH. SPECT3D is a multi-dimensional, collisional, radiative code developed by Prism, Inc. that computes post-process diagnostic signatures and spectroscopy from the output of radiation hydrodynamics calculations. SPECT3D can natively process output simulation data from FLASH, the high-performance computing, finite-volume radiation magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code developed by the Flash Center for Computational Science. FLASH has extended physics capabilities that enable the code to treat a broad range of physical processes in astrophysics, laboratory plasma physics, and high energy density physics (HEDP). Recent algorithmic extensions in FLASH have now also enabled the code to directly model Z-pinch experiments. We aim to use SPECT3D to validate FLASH by analyzing and comparing synthetic x-ray images of FLASH simulations to CESZAR gas-puff z-pinch experimental data.