ADVANCED RADIATION THEORY SUPPORT ANNUAL REPORT 2002, FINAL REPORT

Z-PINCH PHYSICS RADIATION FROM WIRE ARRAYS. This report describes the theory support of DTRA's Plasma Radiation Source (PRS) program carried out by NRL's Radiation Hydrodynamics Branch (Code 6720) in FY 2002. Included is work called for in DTRA MIPR 02-2045M - ''Plasma Radiation Theory Support'' and in DOE's Interagency Agreement DE-AI03-02SF22562 - ''Spectroscopic and Plasma Theory Support for Sandia National Laboratories High Energy Density Physics Campaign''. Some of this year's work was presented at the Dense Z-Pinches 5th International Conference held June 23-28 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A common theme of many of these presentations was a demonstration of the importance of correctly treating the radiation physics for simulating Plasma Radiation Source (PRS) load behavior and diagnosing load properties, e.g, stagnation temperatures and densities. These presentations are published in the AIP Conference Proceedings and, for reference, they are included in Section 1 of this report. Rather than describe each of these papers in the Executive Summary, they refer to the abstracts that accompany each paper. As a testament to the level of involvement and expertise that the Branch brings to DTRA as well as the general Z-Pinch community, eight first-authored presentations were contributed at this conference as well as a Plenary and an Invited Talk. The remaining four sections of this report discuss subjects either not presented at the conference or requiring more space than allotted in the Proceedings.